Ray Mysterio took a trip down memory lane over the weekend, heading up to Oxford to celebrate his 30th birthday. Spending a couple of days around the dreaming spires also allowed me to keep an eye out for some classic birds of the English Summer as we headed out to Wolvercote on Saturday night.
The first wildlife highlight come almost as soon as we sat down for dinner. A rogue Water Shrew charged across the restaurant, much to the discern of the local diners. As this charismatic little hog-nose navigated through the tables and chairs, screams of "mouse", "rat" and "cockroach" echoed all around. Bunch of muppets I thought to myself, before pointing out to the manager that they in-fact had a single case of Neomys fodiens on the loose. Being a protected species, highly territorial, with poisonous saliva and razor-sharp incisors, I gently recommended he did not stamp on it.
After a sumptuous feast of Spit-Roast Chicken in the fabled Trout Inn by the meandering, meadow-weaving upper reaches of the Thames, we took a post-prandial. Classic summer birding was on the menu for desert. A pair of Common Terns hawked the river, Grey Wagtails chased across the weir and a Common Sandpiper zig-zagged downstream. A late dusk chorus of passerines filled the air. Greylag and Canada Geese, Mute Swan and Mallard dotted the landscape, while a Reed Bunting piped up in a nearby bush.
A trip to Dungeness is planned for Friday. I hope a few hours at The Patch will give me some inspiration for my business plan. Best case scenario; lifers and clarity. Worst case scenario; birds.
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