1,500...and counting

First Moon of the New Year:

 

Will climate change make rice growing a possibility in Cuddesdon? This is winter wheat, but it may as well be rice, the fields are saturated:

The high water content in the soil has already destroyed the crops in some parts of the fields:

But these exposed muddy areas are attracting huge numbers of Fieldfares. Presumably they feed on worms and invertebrates driven to the surface by the water. Below is a typical scene from a nearby field today, an even covering of Fieldfares and the small long object in the bottom right is a Hare, flattening itself against the ground:

The Fieldfares were distributed over a number of fields today, conservative totals were:
Old Barns Field 500
Chippinghurst area 500
Denton Lane 200
East Field 200
Flyovers 100
A new Year, a new record Fieldfare count: 1500! I also had a brief glimpse of a Little Owl near Denton as I slid home through the mud.