Otmoor update late April

Spotted Redshank

Information on what is happening on the moor has been filtering through to me from a variety of sources. With the bridleway and other public rights of way running around and through the reserve it is possible to see most of the fields, apart of course from the reedbed and lagoons that are only accessible via the permissive pass, which is closed.

Spring is upon us and its new arrivals continue to flood in. All of the regular warbler species have arrived and are singing, apart from Garden Warbler which has yet to be positively recorded. 

Gropper

Just as in other years there has been a Grasshopper Warbler behaving atypically and singing from the top of a bush in the open. A Sedge Warbler has taken up residence in a blackthorn along the bridleway. 

Confiding Sedgie

Just as last year it is once again belting out its song in the open until seemingly so overcome with its enthusiasm and passion it takes to the air flies up still singing and then parachutes down to the reeds on the other side of the ditch.

All the hirundines have been seen and the resident Swallows at Noke can be seen zipping across the fields near to the barns where they nest. There are new lambs gambolling in the fields and at the weekend the first Whinchat of the year was spotted in a tree near the balancing pond.

Distant Whinchat

Both Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers have been seen, two summer plumaged Spotted Redshanks were feeding in one of the Big Otmoor scrapes and were easily seen from the bridleway. Bitterns are still booming, and one was seen landing and then standing in the middle of Greenaway’s sky-pointing before sloping off into a ditch.

Swimming Spotted Redshank

A ring-tailed Harrier was seen over Greenaway’s last Saturday flushing up Snipe and Skylarks. Marsh Harriers can be seen over the whole of the moor being mobbed by parent Lapwings and Redshanks. 

vigilant Lapwing

On Sunday the first fluffy Lapwing chicks could be seen at the edge of one of the scrapes, always an encouraging sign. A pair of Ravens were pursued and harried by Lapwings as they passed over Big Otmoor.

Raven pursued by Lapwings

I will report what I hear from locals who are taking their exercise around the reserve and I can’t help but wonder what interesting and exciting  birds we might have missed. As I remarked last time I wrote it is sometimes reassuring to reflect that despite humanities trials and tribulations the world is still turning and nature is keeping calm and carrying on.

Red tailed Bumble Bee just getting on with it!     All pics (c) Bark

End of March and Lockdown!

Social distancing being enforced at the feeders (c) Tom N-L

Walking down Windmill road in Headington this morning at eight o’clock, my attention was drawn to a male blackbird sitting on the eaves of a house and singing loudly and clearly. Not an unusual occurrence you might think. The difference today was that I could actually hear it, his fluid song was not drowned out and obliterated by the normal roar of non-stop rush hour traffic. Although we have other preoccupations, nature just keeps following the rhythm of the seasons.

Blackbird (c) Bark

I last went down to Otmoor two weeks ago and duly walked round with a couple of my regular companions, observing the two-metre separation, which has now become the new normal. The sky was clear and blue, I slowly realised that there was a total absence of vapour trails and no noise from passing aircraft.

Singing Chaffinch (c) Bark

Spring was happening everywhere, with a few early arrivals and many others still awaiting departure. Chiffchaffs seemed to be everywhere in the hedgerows, flitting and feeding, bundles of restless energy. 

Chiffy (c) Oz

Out on the fields Lapwings and Redshanks are calling, displaying and nesting. 

Before monitoring stopped and the RSPB staff were asked to work from home the first Lapwing nests had been found. Sadly, we will not be able to collect comprehensive breeding data this year.

Female Stonechat soon to depart (c) Bark

Two different Bitterns were booming. One from Greenaways and the other from the depths of the long reedbed that goes towards Noke along the northern edge of Ashgrave beside the bridleway. 

Marsh Harriers (c) Bark

Over the main reedbeds up to four Marsh Harriers were hunting and displaying. The Hen Harriers of the winter finally seem to have moved on.

Marsh Harrier and Red Kite dispute (c) Tom N-L

A small flock of Golden Plover were out on Big Otmoor looking very smart indeed as they moult into their fresh summer plumages. They, and the Wigeon that are still feeding around the edges of the water on Big Otmoor and The Flood, will soon be gone.

Willow Warbler and Long Tailed Tit (c) Bark

With the RSPB staff still visiting the reserve on a rota basis for essential duties and with livestock soon to be coming on to Ashgrave, I will be hearing from them about the new arrivals and other birds on passage. 

Two new arrivals on Ashgrave (c) Bark

I will try to publish some kind of update from time to time. I have for instance just heard that there is a Little Ringed Plover on Big Otmoor and that the Black headed Gull colony seems to have decamped to the Flood. The first Swallows have also been noticed.

Kestrel leaning into the wind (c) Bark

I have been thinking a great deal about the lockdown and our restricted access to the countryside, especially for those of us who live in town. When I walked from my home up to Shotover, as I did the other day with a couple of members of our household, I was dodging other people continually, all of them out legitimately running, cycling, dog walking and running. Had I taken a ten-minute drive, I could have been on a public footpath or bridleway and seen nobody. I fail to see that this is somehow a more “unsafe” option for myself or others…….

Mallards out exercising (c) Bark

A friend sent me a screen shot from Richard Dawkins Twitter feed…..:

“Told to take brief exercise daily, went to Otmoor. Only inhabitants birds and normally a few twitchers. I obeyed a notice forbidding entrance for Covid-19 safety reasons. I am sincerely curious. Maybe good reason? How does walking alone in a fenland bird reserve endanger anyone?”

Despite the obvious crisis in our society the natural world just keeps going unconcerned. I was reminded of a poem by Ted Hughes called “Swifts”, here is an extract:

“the swifts materialise at the tip of a long scream

Of needle. “Look! They’re back! Look!” and they’re gone

On a steep

Controlled scream of skid

Round the house-end and away under the cherries. Gone.

Suddenly flickering in sky summit, three or four together,

Gnat-whisp frail, and hover searching.

They’ve made it again,

Which means the globe’s still working, the Creation’s

Still waking refreshed, our summer’s

Still all to come ---"

Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock (c) Bark

I will report what I can from the moor and hope that we will all soon be back out there enjoying the birds and all of natural world. In the meantime, I hope that you all stay well.

Bark.