Saturday and Sunday 7th and 8th December

Peregrine (c) Nick Truby

A very bird filled weekend with Otmoor at its winter best. Saturday morning was initially overcast but brightened by mid-morning and Sunday was a jewel of a day. After heavy overnight showers the skies were blue, rain-washed and clear. 

Early morning Lapwings (c) Bark

The low sunlight lit everything brilliantly and from the start there were very large numbers of birds to be seen. At first the waves of Starlings leaving the roost at dawn. Then the huge flocks of Golden Plover and Lapwings sparkled and swirled across the sky as they responded to threats both real and imagined. 

Peregrine (c) Nick Truby

The real threats took the form of two Peregrines, at least one Hen harrier, a Marsh Harrier and several different Sparrowhawks. It is very noticeable how when the Lapwings flush, they stay loosely together and descend again quite rapidly.

Goldies higher than Lapwings (c) Bark

The Golden Plover however always seem to go much higher than the Lapwings and scatter into smaller groups and flocks, flying in loose vee formations before finally coalescing and descending more cautiously, having spent much longer on the wing.

Golden plover   Above (c) Nick Truby  Below (c) Bark

We were fortunate on Sunday to watch a young Peregrine making a number of attempts to catch  Wigeon. The ducks panicked and flew but only out into open water rather than up into the air where they might have been more at risk from the Peregrines aerial agility. What was so impressive from the Peregrine was its ability to suddenly accelerate whilst still in level flight just as if it had dropped down a gear, also evident was its bulk and power.

Curlew over (c) Bark

We were surprised to  see and hear two Curlews at the weekend normally we expect to see an influx of them towards the end of February. There  was also a Black-tailed Godwit seen feeding out among the ducks. 

Shelduck (c) Nick Truby

Several Shelduck have been seen over and around the reserve over the last few weeks most often out on the large lagoon halfway up Ashgrave or flying between there and one of the adjacent flooded fields.

An interesting arrival on Sunday was a Common Crane. Its rings identify it as a bird known as Bopbop !! It is a female and has visited Otmoor before on a couple of occasions. It is odd that it hasn’t yet gone down to Somerset for the winter as “our” regular pair have. They are currently amongst the large flock on the Somerset Levels.

Canada Geese (c) Nick Truby

Large numbers of geese and ducks are to be seen out on the Closes which is more flooded this year than I can previously remember. It appears that the wildfowl are favouring areas that have not been flooded for some years as there is a wealth of grass seeds and invertebrates that have been lifted out by the water. On the Closes the grass had until very recently been grazed and so there is plenty of short green stuff for Wigeon and geese to graze.

Fieldfare (c) JR

We feel we have seen fewer winter thrushes this year than we remember from previous autumns. It may be that there hasn’t been the usual abundance of Haws and Sloes on the reserve this year, due partly to a very late hard frost last spring. They may already be feeding out on fields as they normally do once the fruit has been consumed.

Goldfinch by the screen (c) JR

With the Starlings in the evenings and the early mornings, the Golden Plovers, Lapwings and Ducks during the day, Otmoor is offering some wonderful spectacles at the moment. For sheer numbers of birds and of course their attendant raptors there is nothing else in the Midlands to match it.

Wigeon over the Flood (c) Bark