A carpet of Fieldfares

The River Thame is up out of its banks again:

I had hoped that all of the extra water might attract a fly-over wader or duck flock, but not today. It was a very warm, but very dark and gloomy, morning that was nearly completely birdless. Until I got to the final field and discovered that it had been carpeted. In Fieldfares:

Sensing that I may have a four figure Fieldfare count (try saying that after a bottle of Shiraz) on my hands, I quickly photographed the mega-flock and counted them later, much to the bemusement of my family. There were more than I estimated in the field, as usual, but 1120 is a record local count. By a lot. It was a fantastic experience to stand near the trees by the river with hundreds of perched Fieldfares chattering noisily away, whilst scanning through the silently feeding flock in the field, a huge moving mass of chestnut and grey.