Happy New Year

An extended Xmas and New Year break in Sussex and Oxfordshire in Southern England gave me a good reminder of the changes affecting British birdlife plus the differences to Oslo birdlife. In a rural Oxfordshire garden in an area of low intensity livestock farming and with scattered woodland there were goof numbers of tits, thrushes and woodpeckers but not a single sparrow, no yellowhammers and a Chaffinch was the only finch I saw.

On the other hand though Red Kites are literally garden birds, Long-tailed Tits seemed to be everywhere including Sussex and Dunnocks and Robins were all common and in song.
Arriving back in Oslo today it was -9C and there is now some snow on the ground and more forecast to come. Winter is finally upon us and hopefully we'll start seeing some more exciting northern birds.

Red Kite: a common garden bird in Oxfordshire are reintroductions but a major rarity in Oslo