Wheatear in front of the hide
Still not the kind of weekend that you would normally expect at this time of
year, cold, windy and damp. But most of the birds that we have been waiting for
are now back.
Turtle Dove was first seen at the Noke end of the reserve on
Thursday and there was a brief snatch of song heard on Sunday morning. All the
Warblers are now in and singing, albeit in a rather tentative way.
Cettis was
heard along the bridle way midweek by one of the reserve staff, we are hoping
that it will soon find a mate and start to repopulate the moor after a couple of
years absence.
Wheatears have continued to be present in large numbers and
there were at least twenty present on Saturday, on Ashgrave in front of the
hide, by Lower Farm Noke and on the field to the south of the Closes. On Sunday
morning as the wind came round to a more southerly direction, a party of ten
were seen to move north along the hedgerow adjoining the reed bed. It does
support the idea that they have been held back over the last four weeks by
adverse conditions and headwinds.
Three
Whinchat were feeding from the hedge
and the fence around the northern edge of Big Otmoor they are so much brighter
and colourful at this time of year but stay only briefly. There are now two
Marsh Harriers being seen regularly over the reed bed one of them is certainly a
mature female but as yet we have not had a clear id. of a male.
Hobbies are now
present in good numbers with at least thirteen being recorded hunting over
Greenaways on Sunday afternoon (per Steve Roby). At least three and very
probably four
Cuckoos were present most of the weekend calling loudly and making
display flights.
Despite the increase in water levels we do not seem to have
attracted many passage waders. There was a
Whimbrel on Big Otmoor on Saturday, a
Greenshank on Ashgrave both days and
Snipe are continuing to drum and chip over
Greenaways. There are also a pair of resident
Curlew on Greenaways taking
offensive action whenever they are overflown by raptors or corvids. A
Red Kite
sailing over big Otmoor now prompts a major scramble by
Lapwings, that attempt
to drive it out of their airspace.
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| Common Terns |
Two
Common Terns were on the northern
lagoon carrying out courtship behaviour the male presenting the female with a
small fish and the two displaying on the ground. Perhaps they will manage to
breed on the reserve this year rather than off it, as they have done in previous
years.
There were large numbers of mixed hirundines and
Swifts feeding over
the reserve on both days this weekend. A flock of at least three hundred
Swallows were feeding very low and slowly over the flooded field at the edge of
the path to the second screen. They were flying into the wind and very close to
the water, they seemed to be picking insects off the surface. They would work
the length of the field and then fly rapidly back to the other end and then
start again. Every so often they would take a rest and settle en masse in one of
the hedgerow trees affording excellent views.
Warm and settled weather is
what is required now so that breeding can really get under way and the first
dragonflies can start to emerge.
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| Swift |
Feeding Swallows
Wet Hare above pictures (c) Peter Barker
Whinchat
