Out of the blue I decided to have a few hours at Acres Down for the first time in four years on a pleasantly bright and slightly windy day. Mistake one was refuelling on the A31 garage; too dear. And buying a coffee there was a mistake; when I slurped the first mouthful a few hours later it transpired I'd pressed chocolate!Yuk.
A Cuckoo was calling distantly on arrival and near the viewpoint plenty of Meadow Pipits and Stonechats were present. Sadly, neither Tree Pipit nor Redstart were heard. Later the Cuckoo popped up nearby and gave half decent scope views while being dive-bombed by a Mipit.
First raptor up was a Gos chasing after racing pigeons and others (1 or 2) were seen on and off with one bird displaying with slow deliberate wingbeats followed by spectacular stoops and recoveries before repeating. The odd Buzzard appeared, mostly distant but one or two in camera range and two possible three kites were distant to the north and south. A single Crossbill was the only passerine of note. Finally a distant dot, soaring up into the blue, was confidently identified by the ever helpful Rob Clements as a Honey. Even with a scope I struggled with this one.
Finally a stroll down to the pond and back to the carpark with Paul from Oxford added no new birds but plenty of Broad-bodied Chasers and single Emperor and Four-spotted.
Last mistake of the day was forgetting the left-only turn back onto the A31 and driving straight into a huge traffic jam!! By the time of exiting at Burley, nature called and a swift visit to McD's (clean loos - tick!) and a Big Mac (still as poor as ever) probably the first in ten years; probably the last for another decade!
A single Swift from the car was the last bird of the day.
And a few recent inverts.
(Dysmachus trigonus, Mother Shipton, mating Eyed Hawkmoths, male Volucella bombylans, Amblyteles armatorius)
