Keith Clack of Oxford Ornithological Society is glad he didn’t let fog deter him

It was difficult to say when, or indeed if, Christmas Eve actually dawned. Thick fog laid a heavy, grey blanket of vagueness over everything and my first thoughts were to stay at home.

I felt this was a little defeatist so chose to pay a visit to my local patch of Rushey Common, a complex of six or seven small to medium gravel pits with productive bushes, hedges and trees thrown in and around the area. Start with the visible bits and hope that the fog lifts to see what’s on and around the water — that was the plan.

Within minutes of starting my circuit the list had built up with more than a dozen of the usual suspects, when a high-pitched, squeaking series of calls alerted me to a species I’d spent over 40 visits trying to add to the patch year list. Treecreeper — and not just one, but a pair of these mouselike little beauties chasing one another up a crumbling tree trunk.

Further along the hedge, three male bullfinches added a welcome splash of colour along with three females, duller but still attractive.

By this time the fog was beginning to thin noticeably, when suddenly a low flying red kite flushed a large number of plovers from a nearby roosting site. More than 800 lapwings and 500 golden plovers wheeled overhead — surely one of the most welcome and iconic sights during the winter months in our area.

“Common” fare continued to be added to the list, which now topped 30 species with feisty little goldcrests, a female reed bunting and a self announcing pied wagtail perhaps the highlights.

A lake I call the “conveyor belt lake” was now almost entirely viewable through the fading mist. It didn’t let me down. An overwintering green sandpiper happily bobbed its rump up and down as it worked the shoreline, and as I ’scoped it a green woodpecker hopped into view before flashing its green, yellow and red colours as it flew off.

It was now clear enough to work the main lake from the hide and as I trod the path I was reminded the importance of learning those contact and flight calls, as long-tailed tits, redwings, fieldfares, and a hardy wintering chiffchaff all announced their presence before I spotted them.

The lake was quiet but visibility was good enough to pick up shoveller, pochard and a number of teals, bringing my total up to a respectable 40 species. As the fog began to descend, drifting in pulses across the lake, there was just time to pick up three handsome stock doves on the roof of the derelict farm and a herring gull that came in to join the gull pre-roost. As I turned to go a buzzard perched on a pylon opposite and looked very bemused as its world began to fade into the mist once more.

I’d logged 47 species on what had seemed to be a day to stay indoors, and felt as if all my Christmases had come at once.

Oxfordshire is blessed with several variations of my patch. Try Otmoor, Port Meadow or one of the sites around Banbury. Even the most unlikely winter’s day can be both enjoyable and inspiring.