Review of the year.

Looking back over the past 12 months, this blog has consisted of 82 posts, a staggering 150 comments have been received and 2851 photographs have been taken (thankfully most of them have not been posted). And as this is probably the last post of the year it seems a good opportunity to reflect upon my favourite posts:
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Wytham Woods:  During 2010 this blog ventured further afield  - from the beech trees of Buckinghamshire to a Ghost Forest in Oxford.  But probably the favourite places visited is Wytham Woods near Oxford.
As it is owned by the University of Oxford it requires a permit to visit and as a result you are more likely to encounter a badger than a dog walker.
http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/10/way-through-woods.html
With over 200 different types, it is also a great place to try to search for fungus:
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Even armed with two field guides and an iPod app it proved to be very difficult: http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-fungus.html
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Views of Norfolk:  Written after a holiday in Norfolk and  despite not being near the Ock (or Oxfordshire) it does contain two of my favourite photographs taken this year - a stoat (one of my favourite animals), given it's proximity to a small stream, it could be hunting water voles: 
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And possibly the best kingfisher photo I'll ever take, it did help that I was in a hide - something which isn't possible on the Ock.
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The full post (and seal photos) at: http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/09/views-of-norfolk.html
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Birds of Prey: Once rare, birds of Prey are now quite common. Buzzards now nest near-by; peregrines can been seen in Oxfordshire (I've seen them at Otmoor) and kestrels are often seen hunting over the fields.  But to have a sparrowhawk in the garden was a bonus(even though it is a rubbish picture) and I have struggled to get decent picture of a red kite since (once extinct in England, now have made a remarkable comeback), so it was good to finally get one.
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The full post: http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/10/birds-of-prey.html
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Water Voles: Nearly 20% of the this years posts have been about water voles, so there are plenty to choose from, but my favourite is the post documenting the water voles on Radley Brook where I managed to film this one eating an apple core I left for it (not quite Terry Whittaker standard).
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.What makes this post the best of the year is that it was thought the colony was extinct (a BBOWT survey earlier had drawn a blank) - wiped out by mink, one of which I saw in March:
The full post (and more films): http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/09/movies-from-radley-brook.html
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Otter:The otter activity in the Ock has become a bit of an obsession in recent posts, perhaps not surprising as it was only 20 years ago that they were extinct in Oxfordshire, now they have  recolonised the Ock and the Thames and without doubt my favourite post of the year was back in February when I first found signs of otters (even if it was just a pile of poo!!):
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The full post is at: http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/02/in-search-of-otters.html
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Thank you to everyone who has read this blog in the past 12 months, whether a regular or an occasional visitor and thank you to everyone who has commented on this blog  - hopefully there has occasionally been something of interest.  

Blog Roll review of the year

2010 has been a mixed year in the blogosphere, Martin decided to end his 'Gullivers Travels' blog, which was also an inspiration for photography, but on the plus side I've found several excellent new blogs.
So, as last year, I thought I would use this period up to new year to review some of my favourite posts over the past 12 months:
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Life in an Oxfordshire Lawn - Crane Fly: I am a huge fan of Henry Wallon's extraordinary blog on the wildlife found in his garden, but this recent post grabbed my attention:
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http://lifeonanoxfordlawn.blogspot.com/2010/12/crane-fly-in-family-limonia-nebeculosa.html
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In a post in Autumn I tried to identify some of the crane flies I encountered and found it virtually impossible as there are 10,000 species of fly that can be considered as a crane fly  and as Henry discusses it is very difficult to identify them. So full credit to Henry for managing to identify his - remarkable.
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Abingdon Blog -  Fox on Ock Street: I am an avid reader of Backstreeter's Abingdon Blog, showing a daily update in our town and it is the first web site I visit each day (followed by the cricket scores on the BBC).
But this post caught my interest, firstly it is one of the best fox photographs I've seen - a lovely portrait of a young fox cub:
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http://www.abingdonblog.co.uk/?p=275
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But what makes this post is the 10 comments that follow, showing that blogging is as much dependent upon the commenters as the blogger - especially the last one from Lyndsey "... then I see he’s been killed near town.".

About a Brook: Kate's water vole blog is a gem and one of the inspirations behind my own blog, full of interesting information about the water voles that live in Shropshire it is hard to pick out one post, but this one shows the excellent pictures she has managed to capture and follow the same vole as it grows up.
- keep up the good work Kate.
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http://staggsbrook.blogspot.com/2010/08/baby-grown-up.html
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Gardening with binoculars - Starlings: Back in November I wrote a post about starlings at otmoor and mentioned the decline in starlings in the UK in recent years.
I found Gardening with binoculars on the Nature Blog Network and I was fascinated in this post written by Anne McCormack on the same subject. Except hers is written in America, where (as she mentions) starlings were deliberately introduced by the 'The Acclimatization Society' who wanted to introduce european wildlife into America, especially those mentioned in the works of Shakespeare.
Something which is completely unnecessary, as Anne goes onto show, American wildlife is just (if not more) wonderful than what we have in the UK and just makes you wonder, what were our fore bearers thinking.
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http://gardeningwithbinoculars.blogspot.com/2010/12/critical-mass-of-starlings.html
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Terry Whittaker - Water Voles: Terry Whittaker is a professional photographer based in Kent and his  blog covers many subject, from the depressing - the trade in tiger parts and bear bile to the uplifting - pine martens caught on a camera trap.
But my favourite post of Terry's is his water vole films, which in a few seconds encapsulates why these are one of my favourite animals.
Now I have finally made the leap into DSLR terrioritary, it's very tempting to attend one of Terry's water vole photography workshops.
http://terrywhittakerphoto.blogspot.com/2010/06/mill-stream-water-vole-updates.html
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A huge thank you to all the blog writers featured and those who haven't, I have learnt a great deal from all these blogs.

Footprints

I received this intriguing comment on a previous post:

I spotted what I think were Otter footprints in the snow beneath the bridge along the Ock Valley Walk - be interesting to see if you can verify they are Otter prints.

Which has inspired me to seek out the various footprints left in the recent snow and to try and identify them:

Birds: Some bird footprints are easy to identify, such as these left by mallards and moorhens along the ock valley walk.

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Smaller birds are harder to identify as they just leave small holes in the snow.

Leporids: The two prints at the front and one behind are almost certainly left by a rabbit
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The other candidate would be a brown hare.  I have never seen a hare in the locality, although I have seen them near Wantage, so it is not impossible that they frequent the area.

Canine: There are two species of canine that can be seen along ock, the red fox and domestic dog.  This footprint is from a domestic dog, taken in a place that is popular with dog walkers.

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Mustelids: There are several species of mustelid that could be found along the Ock - badger, otter, mink and stoats, weasels and polecats.

What differentiates a mustelid footprint from a canine is five toes, whilst a canine has four.  This footprint found in south Abingdon could be a badger, but it is hard to count the number of toes but it was found near where I have seen badgers previously:

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This footprint was found along the ock valley walk, where the previous commenter said they have seen possible otter footprints.

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A close up shows (now circled) five toes, so it almost certainly a mustelid and given it's location it could definitely be an otter and it is where I have previously found a dead crayfish (common otter prey), so thank you very much for the tip-off.

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A good example of an otter footprint is snow is from Charlie Hamilton James' Twitter Feed: http://twitpic.com/3if160

As always, comments are very welcome, especially if I have misidentified something.

More Snow

One of the advantages of living in south Abingdon and working in north Abingdon is the walk to work can be very picturesque after heavy snow and the rivers are at their finest.
The river Ock in south Abingdon:
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Burford Bridge spanning the Thames.

From the footbridge over the Abbey Stream looking towards the Thames weir.

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And the view of St. Helens Wharf  from Burford Bridge is the classic Abingdon Christmas card scene.

Snow!!

Fourteen centimetres (5.5 inches) of snow fell in a few hours on Saturday morning and as expected, this caused complete traffic chaos in this part of Oxfordshire.
However, the Ock Valley Walk was very scenic
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The Lower Ock had even frozen in places:
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And a pleasant surprise of two muntjac deer near the town centre.
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And if the snow persists it will be interesting to see what footprints have been left by the animals who have been struggling even more than the local transport system.
The Abingdon blog has more photos of the snow

Otters 2010

As discussed in recent posts, the  recent findings of spraints along the river demonstrate that the spraint found in March wasn't just a single occurrence. So it seems an opportunity to reflect upon the various otter related postings over the past 12 months.
Like the water vole map, a map of otter activity can be plotted using google maps:



View Otters 2010 in a larger map

Pin A: Is the original spraint recorded in February:http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/02/in-search-of-otters.html
It is also the site of the recent spraints as recorded in these two recent posts:
http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/11/return-of-otter.html in November and this one three weeks later  http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/12/more-otter.html 
Pin B: Is the location of a mutilated cray fish found by Drayton Road bridge , found back in July:
http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/07/murder-mystery-on-ock.html
Although the post considers various options on what killed it, in retrospect I am convinced it was an Otter.
Pin C: Is another dead crayfish, this one was intact, so it may be not have been an otter killing: http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/08/crayfish-murders-another-victim.html
Pin D: Is possible otter sighting, seen having retrieved the spraint as described at the end of this recent spraint post: http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/11/return-of-otter.html
As with the water vole and other wildlife sightings recorded in this blog they are sent to the Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre.
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This blog isn't the only record of otter activity in the area and by expanding the map these can be seen relative to the four discussed in this blog, showing the area now covered by otters in this part of Oxfordshire:

View Otters 2010 in a larger map

Pin E: An otter spraint was recorded earlier in the year at Sandford Brook at the Dry Sandford Pit nature reserve (source BBOWT newsletter)
Pin F (near Oxford): The location of an otter spraint recorded at the BBOWT nature reserve at Iffley Meadows along the river Thames (source - BBOWT newsletter).
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The level of otter activity is perhaps not suprising as the Thames catchement has shown one of the largest increases in otter numbers as stated in the environment agency's 2010 otter survey
In 2000 / 2002 there was no evidence of otters along the Ock and the Thames, yet in 2009/2010 16 out of 20 surveys revealed evidence of otters.
The Environment Agency suggest this could be due to improved water quality in recent years as otters moved in from the west (possibly via the kennet and avon canal) and a reintroduction programme in the Upper Thames area in 1999.
Although otters seldom live beyond 6 years, it may be the relatives of these reintroduced otters that are currently resident in the Ock.
The Environment Agency report also highlights one of the biggest threats to otters is in road accidents, such as the Pin G  in the map which is where the dead otter was found at Clifton Hampden mentioned by David in a comment to the original otter spraint post: http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2010/02/in-search-of-otters.html

2011 BBOWT Upper Thames calendar

Each year, the Upper Thames division of the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust produce a calendar to assist with fund raising and the 2011 version features two of my water vole photographs - one of the front cover and one for August:

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This year the funds will go towards assisting with the  BBOWT Cothill Fen project. More details can be found at: http://www.bbowt.org.uk/content.asp?did=26091

Frost

With the temperature being below freezing for the past few days there have been plenty of opportunities for photographs of the frost that doesn't seem to melt:.
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All photographs have been taken in north east Abingdon where, unlike south Abingdon, the fields, verges and meadows have not been cut

Yet more spraints...

It's tempting to say otter spraints on the Ock are like buses, you don't see one for a while and then several turn up at the same time.  But this is not entirely accurate as the Abingdon to Oxford bus service is actually very good and reliable.

As mentioned in the post below, the first otter spraint recorded under the A34 was in February 2010 and despite monthly surveys, another one wasn't found till  ten months later.  This is perhaps not surprising as otters are very territorial with a male otter having a territory of over 20 square miles and whilst a female otter has a smaller territory she will not share it with a male and they only meet on the edge of their respective territories. 

Hence it was probable that otters were infrequent visitors, perhaps occasionally moving in from the Thames to feed on crayfish and mark their territory.

However, two days later (19/11/2010) another spraint was found in the same place:

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Then today (4th December 2010), not one but two fresh spraints:

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So it seems for the time being that there is a resident otter along the Ock and as four spraints have been found in the same location within a few weeks there could be more than one otter. This could mean the bridge is an overlap between two territories or there could be a female with a cub......