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Wryneck (c) Early Birder |
I had intended to do a roundup of the whole bank holiday weekend. As the
rain teems down steadily this morning and the weather forecaster is promising
more of the same all day, I suspect there will not be much to report from the
moor today.(Monday)
There have been suggestions of Autumn over the last few weeks and it seemed
even more autumnal this weekend. It may be the phragmites reeds having flowered
with their purplish tassels softening and subduing the bright green of the
reedbed, then again it could be the thistles that have set seed and drifted pale
thistledown over the hedgerow herbage. Vegetation looks tired and ragged yet the
hedgerows are still a long way from turning to the true colours of fall.
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Where is it? (c) Early Birder |
The birdlife this weekend also reflected the changes that are occurring
with passage migrants moving through and the last of our summer visitors feeding
up before going south. The most exciting and uncommon of the visitors was a
Wryneck found by Mark Chivers along the path to the first screen from the
bridleway. As most of my friends know, this has been a “bogey” bird for me. I
had never seen one in Oxfordshire having missed through travel, bad luck and on
one occasion ineptitude, all of the previous ones over the last fifteen years.
Having been called as soon as it was found I made my way back down to Otmoor to
try to catch up with this unusual species on my regular patch. The bird had been
taking advantage of the ant colonies beside the footpath, but with it being a
footpath it was being regularly flushed by visitors who needed to walk through.
I arrived at one of these moments when the bird had decided to spend some time
in the depths of a bush. I did eventually see it as did a number of other people
several times during the afternoon sadly it was not seen again after about four
o’clock and there was no sign of it on Sunday. I was especially pleased as it
was the one hundred and forty fifth species for the moor this year and my two
hundred and sixty first for Oxfordshire.
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There are fewer warblers around (C) JR |
On Saturday there was a fine male
Wheatear out on Big Otmoor and at least three Whinchats on both days along the
path up to July’s Meadow. There were also several at other spots, both around
the reserve and out at the Pill.
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The most photographed Kingfisher anywhere. top two (c) JR lower one (c) Tom N-L |
The photographic stars of the weekend and last week have undoubtedly been
the Kingfishers from the first screen. It was indicative of the change that is
happening in birding, that when one of them, a juvenile female, landed on the
perch right beside the screen and then stayed there for over five minutes, all
that could be heard was the machine gun rattle of camera shutters taking ten
frames a second. A bit like the start of a battle but happily without the
resulting carnage! We all delight in the stunning images that result none more
than myself, who illustrates a blog with the resulting pictures. At one point on
Saturday there were three Kingfishers there.
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Water Rail in transit. (c) JR |
Sit at the first screen for any
amount of time and sooner of later you should see a Water Rail making its way
stealthily along the reedy margins before flying across the open water to
disappear back into the reeds.
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Not one to share with the chick. (c) JR |
The last Great Crested Grebe chick is still
trying to beg food from its parent but is increasingly being ignored and is
hunting for itself. One of the Bitterns gave us a lengthy flypast on Sunday
morning having been flushed from the grass beside the visitor trail. We
speculated that it might have been hunting small frogs in the wet grass as we
had seen several crossing the path.
At least two Marsh Harriers are still around as are several Hobbies. A
Peregrine made a low and fast pass over the reeds on Saturday and a Sparrowhawk
is frequently being seen from the hide.
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There are still plenty of Snipe to be seen. (c) JR |
Water levels have crept up a bit on the southern reedbed and we have yet to
see the small island in front of the screen or the extensive muddy area to the
right and behind the reeds. If the water levels do draw down a bit more over the
next few weeks it will be definitely be the place to watch.
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Hares are easy to see now the grass has been cut. (c) Early Birder |
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