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Lesser Whitethroat (c) Early Birder |
There
was a slight touch of autumn in the air on Saturday morning, a chill and a
subtle change in the light. The heavy rain of last week had done little to
recharge the scrapes on Big Otmoor and Greenaways and they are now little more
than dusty basins. None the less they still held a couple of Green Sands on
Sunday with a probable pair of Little Ringed Plovers. On Saturday morning a
Dunlin had been feeding around the margins of one of the last remaining puddles
on Greenaways.
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Plenty for the Herons to eat (c) JR |
A
visitor reported a Great White Egret with three Little Egrets in front of the
first screen early on Saturday morning. It may well be the individual that was
around last week it was reported to have flown off in the direction of
Oddington.
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Warbler selection (c) Early Birder |
The
walk between the first and second screens took us over an hour on Saturday
morning, as we spent almost half an hour watching the massive mixed party of
warblers and tits in the heavily brambled corner to the left of the first
screen. This is a perfect sheltered suntrap in the morning and the brambles
attract lots of insect food. There were very good numbers of Lesser
Whitethroats amongst them as well as Common Whitethroats, Sedge and Reed
Warblers, Blackcaps and Willow/Chiffs. The party also included at least one
Goldcrest, the first I have seen on the moor for a while. As well as feeding
the birds were occasionally sitting out in the sunshine and preening. The whole
party appeared to have at its core a large number of Long Tailed Tits. Some of
them were clearly juvenile and were begging adults for food. As we made our way
along the path the main flock preceded us flicking and flitting along the
hedgerow.
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Warblers and Long Tailed Tit (c) JR |
Redstarts
are being found in increasing numbers in the regular spots in Long Meadow. They
usually reveal their presence with their distinctive “huweet” call and then patient waiting and watching will eventually
reveal them as they fly-catch and ambush grasshoppers from low down on the
isolated bushes.
The
other hotspot this weekend was around the sheep fields and the farm at Noke.
This area has always acted like a magnet for Chats and Wheatears and this
weekend was no different. We always look around here for the first returning
Wheatears in both spring and autumn.
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Wheatear and distant whinchat (c) Bark |
There must be something very particular
about the configuration of close cropped grass, open fields with fences to hunt
from and cover. This weekend we saw at least eleven Yellow Wagtails feeding on
the short grass sheep field on Saturday morning and while there were not so
many evident on Sunday there were over ten Wheatears in the area. There was
also a pair of Whinchats that divided their time between the tall reeds on the
side of Ashgrave and the barbed wire fence. In three or four weeks time we will
also be finding Stonechats along here and then they will spread out across the
whole of the reserve to over winter.
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Painted Lady and Common Blue with Small Copper (c) Bark |
Butterflies
were also very much in evidence this weekend very much encouraged by the
sunshine. Several Brown Hairstreaks were around the master ash in the Roman
Road and three or four Painted ladies were along the main paths. There are
still large numbers of Common Blues on the path to the second screen and on
Saturday morning we saw a very active Clouded Yellow in Long Meadow.
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Our resident Fallow Deer that thinks it's a cow (c) JR |
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