Category Archives: wildlife

Deer near Radley Lakes

Deer near Radley Lakes
Thanks to Peter for this picture of the deer at Wick Hall through the trees from Radley lakes. He says these countryside walks start only a few hundred yards from the Peachcroft/Audlett Drive estates.

The hide on the Abingdon side of Radley lakes has a large poster of birds on the wall and on Peter’s visit he identified several species of duck and other water birds eg different gulls, grebes and cormorant. He says “Who knows what you might see. (Take your binoculars though!). There is a claim of someone seeing an osprey last autumn! The path around the lake is easy to follow and well worth a visit. The Earth Trust have done a marvellous job so far and I hope they raise the funds to build a visitor centre.“

Christmas Holidays extended …

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Swans Holiday
On a walk to Culham and back I took a picture of a swan and then an almost grown cygnet at the old Culham bridge where Swift Ditch rejoins the Thames.

They paddled upstream at a steady pace, met up with a larger group of swans, and then paddled past.

Some people are preparing to go back to work after the Christmas break. Other people, working on essential / caring services, have never stopped.

The company I work for asks employees to save three of their annual holidays to use at this time of year – so that the company can close down for the week between the Christmas and New Year bank holidays. So I am now into extended Christmas Holiday.
Swans Holiday
As for swans, every day has its routine. They need to check out their territory, find food, and ward off any dangers, etc… That routine cannot be called either work or leisure. Swans don’t get holidays.

Swan Upping 2011

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Swan Upping
Many Thanks to Stephen Gray, an artist based in Culham, for this picture of him with his own painting of the Swan Uppers.

Today was the day the Royal census of swans, or Swan Upping, came to Abingdon – the final stop in the journey up the River Thames.

I found them first at Abingdon Sailing Club where they had caught two adult swams and six young.

This has not been a good year for swans – a virus has killed many. The Swan Uppers only found three familes, today : one at Wallingford, another at Clifton Hamden, and this one in Abingdon.
Swan Upping
The swans were weighed and ringed, a spike was extracted from the webbed foot of one of the adults, and then they were released to swim off as if nothing had happened.

The Swan Uppers continued their journey to Abingdon Bridge where they drank the traditional toast to The Queen.

They then went to the Broad Face for more drinks. Once the local brew had lubricated their vocal chords sufficiently the Swan Uppers treated the other people in the pub to a traditional Swan Upping sing song.

My first clear image of a water vole (or rat)

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I have always admired some of the other Abingdon Blogs.

Take Views of the Ock. When that blog started, the blogger was elated after weeks of searching to get an indistinct blurred image of a water vole (I think they are also called water rats). Images got better and better until now the blogger seems able to find them at will, and has gone on to find other creatures like otters.
Signs
Today I saw my first water vole in the Margaret Brown Gardens, then almost immediately I saw five others. They scurried away, one down the riverside, the other five under the lavender.You can just see one cautiously peeping out to see if it is safe yet.
Signs
He / she then came out a bit further…
Signs
Then finally came into full view. My first clear image of a water vole (or is it a rat?). Just to add “Many people, including pest controllers, builders and developers, mistake the endangered water vole for the brown rat and accidentally poison them”