Saturday and Sunday 14th and 15th September

Water Rail (c) JR

Two perfect early autumn days, crisp and chilly to start with a light mist hanging over the lowest parts of the moor that melted away as the sun rose. It was bright, sunny and clear right to the horizon once the mist had lifted.

I can’t clearly remember a time when the water levels at the first screen were so low. Although the sluices are closed the levels have dropped due to evaporation.

Our Resident Little Egret (c) Bark

The mud is now very extensive and has continued to attract occasional waders. Last Thursday a Ruff dropped in and on Sunday two Black-tailed Godwits were feeding in the shallows at the northern end of the lagoon. 

Wandering Water Rail (c) Bark

Between fifteen and twenty Snipe can be spotted with a little patience, either feeding on the margins and mudflats or roosting amidst the stalks of cut reeds where their cryptic colouration makes them very hard to see. Water Rails were easy to see on Sunday morning. They seem to be busy establishing winter territories and chase each other in and out of the reeds squealing like piglets. Sometimes taking to the wing to cross open water.

Early morning Whinchats  above (c) Bark  below (c) JR

It is the best time on Otmoor to see Wheatears and Chats. Several Whinchats have been seen out along the stone track on Greenaway’s. Around the farm at Noke on Friday and Saturday there were four Wheatears and a couple of distant Whinchats. On Sunday and Monday there were four Whinchats and at least one Stonechat out at the Pill, with an additional Wheatear there for good measure on Monday.

Lesser Whitethroat (c) Bark

A late Redstart was around the crossroads area on Sunday morning and presumably the same individual, a female, was seen and photographed near the first screen later the same day.

Yellow Wagtails (c) Bark

On Saturday morning the cows on Ashgrave slowly made their way over to the area in front of the hide bringing with them their attendant Yellow Wagtails. It was interesting to see that the birds tried to stay in the shadow of the cattle just slipping out to snatch insects. There were family parties amongst the Wagtails I saw several juveniles still begging for food from the adults.

Chilly early morning Meadow Pipit (c) Bark

There  has been an influx of Meadow Pipits onto the reserve and there are several small flocks feeding out on both Ashgrave and Greenaway’s. It will not be long before we get our first autumn record of Merlin as they seem to follow the Meadow Pipits south. In other years we have noticed that the Hobbies and Merlin tend to overlap by two or three weeks at either end of the winter.

Sparrowhawk (c) JR

Two different Marsh Harriers were present at the weekend, one much scruffier and mid moult than the other. A young Buzzard with a very pale breast has been spending a lot of time perched out on a post in the middle of Greenaway’s. It seems that whenever one  looks out over the fields at the moment, somewhere there will be a Kestrel hovering. People who have been on the moor around dusk have reported two Barn Owls hunting over Greenaway’s and on the eastern side of the  reedbed.

fallow Deer (c) Bark

A couple of young male Fallow Deer made their way across Saunders Field on Sunday looking beautiful in the sunshine and looking as if they were dressed specially in autumnal colours.

Nectaring Brimstone (c) Bark

Saturday and Sunday 7th and 8th September

Wheatear at the Pill (c) Bark

Saturday was grey, cool and breezy, Sunday in contrast was bright, very cold to start with, but as often happens at this time of year, by mid-morning I was feeling overdressed. Autumn was certainly in the air.

Long tailed Tits (c) Bark

On Sunday the tits and warblers were taking advantage of the fine weather to feed on the abundant insects while the seed eaters were tackling the fluffy heads of thistles, spiky teasels and sticky burrs.

Saturday was quiet and unremarkable until we walked out to the Pill. On our way we found a Spotted Flycatcher hunting from a dead hawthorn in the lee of the hedge. 

Spot fly and Tree Creeper (c) Bark

There were two Tree Creepers gleaning insects from the nearby branches. At the Pill itself we found four Whinchats, one Stonechat and a very confiding Wheatear.

Wheatear and Whinchat (c) Bark

While standing on the bridge at the Pill we could just see the Common Cranes feeding in Greenaway’s where they had been for most of the morning. Distracted by the chats we failed to  notice them take off but then saw they were flying. 

Going for the winter?

We watched them circle over the moor gaining height all the time until we lost them in the low clouds. This behaviour has been seen occasionally over the last several  weeks and they have eventually returned. I did not see them on Sunday and  have not heard of any subsequent reports, perhaps this time they have left for their wintering grounds in Somerset.

Goldfinch and juvenile Bullfinch (c) Bark

Walking along the bridleway on Sunday morning with bright sunlight behind me I was struck by the large numbers of Goldfinches both adult and juvenile. Bullfinches too would appear to have had a successful breeding season with family parties including very recently fledged juveniles feeding along the path to the first screen. Mixed feeding flocks of warblers were working through the prolific blackberries snatching at insects attracted to the ripening fruit. Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs were amongst them as were both species of Whitethroat and the occasional Reed Warbler.

Warblers and a Wren (c) Bark

They were shooting on Sunday and so I was unable to get out to the Pill again. A walk towards Noke found Whinchats sitting on the electric fence posts at the western end of Ashgrave. At least a hundred Yellow Wagtails are roosting in the reedbed at the moment and a small flock of them were feeding restlessly on the cut grass close to the cattle. On Monday a party of fifteen or so Meadow Pipits were reported on Greenaways.

As the green of the leaves start to fade in the hedgerows the bright colours of the hips and haws start to glow, the days are contracting, changes are happening and birds are on the move.

Comma on Blackberries (c) Bark

Last two weeks of August

Ruff and Greenshank (c) Bark

Meteorological autumn arrived on the first of September and for the first time I really noticed a change in the air, the light and the vegetation. It was  cooler and the lush greens of summer are being replaced with softer paler shades. The fields have been topped and hayed and the layout of the ditches and small reedbeds stand out more clearly.

Early signs of autumn (c) Bark

There has been a steady increase in the presence of passage migrants with Whinchats, Wheatears and Redstarts being noted across the moor. Whinchats are being seen in the regular hedgerows on the MOD land and by the cattle pens but unusually we have not found them by the farms at Noke yet this year.

Whinchats     above (c) Nick Truby and below (c) JR

We are getting our regular pre-migration build up of Yellow wagtails and I have been told of as many as one hundred and fifty going to roost in the reedbed. Now the long grasses have been topped is easier to spot them feeding around the feet of grazing cattle.

Yellow Wagtails above (c) Nick Truby and below (c) Bark

The water levels in front of the first screen have continued to fall as the water evaporates. We certainly have more mud exposed than for the last few years. It has continued to attract a number of waders but not yet anything especially unusual or scarce. The muddy margins are speckled with white downy feathers as if there had been a light snowfall, they come from the ducks moulting and preening on the margins. 

Snipe and Little Ringed Plovers (c) Bark

Many Snipe are feeding on the edges and wading out into the shallow water to probe for invertebrates. We have seen  Green Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers and at least three Little Ringed Plovers, two juveniles and an adult. Little Egrets are now being seen regularly again. 

Great White Egrets (c) Derek Lane

In addition, last weekend there were two Great White Egrets out in front of the screen which frustratingly I manged to miss seeing by three minutes! The pair of Hawaiian Geese are still coming and going around the moor.

Nene (c) Nick Truby

One of the highlights occurred on Sunday  25^th August. As we were watching a lone Greenshank feeding and preening on the mud bank to the left of the screen it started to call and flew up. At the same time, we could hear at least one other Greenshank calling and then we spotted a small flock of Greenshanks flying in. 

Greenshank (c) Bark

There were eighteen all together and they were accompanied by another wader that we later identified as a Ruff. They circled several times and looked as if they were about to land but took fright and flew off towards Big Otmoor. I haven’t seen so many Greenshanks together before and they were stunningly beautiful, bright, loud and animate.

An unsheduled dip for a Greenshank and some of the seventeen (c) JR

Elsewhere there are many mixed parties of Warblers moving through the hedgerows. Both species of Whitethroat can be seen amongst them looking crisp and fresh in pristine plumage.  

Reed warbler and Whitethroat (c) Bark and Sedgie (c) Nick Truby

A couple of Spotted Flycatchers were reported along the footpath to the south of Ashgrave that leads up to Beckley.

Kestrel (c) Bark

There are still five or six different Kestrels hunting over the newly cropped fields and two Marsh Harriers are still being seen over and around the reedbed. The Cranes are still with us but will soon be returning to  Somerset for the winter

Cranes flying in to feed (c) Bark

We are now approaching the key time for Bearded Tit irruption and hopefully this year some of these delightful birds will one again turn up on the moor and we will be listening out keenly for their distinctive pinging calls.

Greenshank and Ruff (c) Bark and Green Sandpiper (c) JR