Saturday and Sunday 7 th and 8 th February

Male Peregrine (c) JR

Two very contrasting days this weekend. Saturday could not have been more dank, grey and dreary, whereas in complete contrast Sunday was a sparkling, sunny day and felt much warmer. It seemed like an early spring day and the behaviour of the birds reflected it.

Wigeon over the reedbed (c) JR

The recent cold spell does not seem to have deterred the wildfowl from staying. There seems always to have been some open water somewhere. On Saturday morning on the large open lead at the northern reedbed lagoon I counted well in excess of six hundred Wigeon.

Shoveller and Gadwall (c) JR

There are good numbers of Shoveller and Gadwall, the males of both species looking very bright and smart in their best breeding plumage. There are still a few Pintail present but they spend most of their time out on the more distant pools of Big Otmoor.

Pintail (c) JR

One or other of he two Peregrines was seen several times on both days. The smaller male with a couple of secondaries missing, was seen in flight stooping down on Teal and also Snipe. We did not see it hunt successfully. The large female is still spending a lot of time in the big Oak tree across the field from the trail to the second screen. The Marsh Harrier is clearly wandering some distance from the moor as it was not seen over the weekend but was noted on Thursday last week.

Singing Lark (c) JR

The sunshine on Sunday encouraged Larks and Chaffinches to start singing, clearly proper spring is not too far away. As we reached the turn on the trail towards the second screen I heard a Nuthatch calling from the large poplars. After a minute or so we managed to locate it as it made its way along the hedge, sitting on top of a bush for a few seconds before moving on. They are regular in the Roman Road area but uncommon out on the moor. It shows how important big hedgerows are, as corridors for wildlife to move along.

Record shot of Nuthatch (c) JR

I had no reports of the Bearded Tits this weekend. On Thursday however four were seen and heard in the reedy margins of Ashgrave up towards Noke.

Bouncing Linnet (c) JR

Reed Bunt (c) Andy Last

The flock of Reed Buntings, a few Yellowhammers, some Chaffinches and the flock of now over three hundred Linnets are providing a real spectacle at the hide, as well as enticing in a Sparrowhawk that seems to have only one leg..... Long John Sparrow? (mixing my pirate references!)

Feeding Bullfinch (c) JR

Bullfinches continue to show beautifully in the carpark field and are still very confiding.

The White-fronted Geese now appear to be firmly attached to the Greylag flock and were feeding out on the pastures to the south of the Closes and the Carpark field.

Whitefronts (c) JR

The Merlin was spotted twice over the weekend and seems to be favouring the fields either side of Otmoor Lane, near the stables. It is however notoriously elusive and is usually seen more by luck than by patient searching.

A Common Gull on Sunday progressed the yearlist, I wonder how long it will be before we get to a hundred species for the year.

 

Singing Robin (c) JR

Saturday and Sunday 31st January and 1st February

Long-tailed Tit (c) JR

It was a cold weekend with a light dusting of snow on the ground on Saturday and a strong gusty bitter northerly wind blowing on Sunday.
Most interest and spectacle revolved around the large numbers of birds. Lapwings and Golden Plovers out on the fields to the west of the reserve, Linnets and Reed Buntings coming down to feed on the grain by the hide and large grazing flocks of Wigeon.
Large numbers of birds inevitably attract predators and all the usual raptors were there this weekend. However Marsh Harrier was only seen to my knowledge on Saturday.

Well filled Peregrine note missing secondaries on left wing (c) JR

We watched a really interesting interaction between a Peregrine, a Red Kite and a Buzzard on Saturday morning over Greenaways. The Peregrine was repeatedly attacking both the Kite and the Buzzard and several times both at once. It clearly swooped down to drive one or other of them off the ground and eventually settled on the ground itself. Several minutes later it got up and flew strongly towards us and over our heads, we were at the first screen, and it  was obvious from its bulging crop that it had been eating. We guessed that it had made a kill and one of the others had tried to take it over, but I suppose that it may simply have been scavenging or indeed misappropriated another birds kill. From its size we assumed that it was a male. It was great to get such a good view of this apex predator. It then made its way over towards the oak trees, where it is often seen perched, to digest its meal. Other predators in action included a Grey Heron dispatching a bank vole by the second screen on Sunday not a sight for the squeamish!

Bullfinches continue to delight in the carpark field. (c) JR

A Merlin is being seen quite frequently along Otmoor Lane, sometimes flying along in front of vehicles. Probably the same bird made a fast pass through the carpark field on Saturday morning.
A Bittern was seen re-locating in the reedbed on Saturday and it will not be very long before we should be listening out for booming. On some RSPB reserves they have already started.
The three White-fronted Geese are still present. I couldn't work out on Sunday whether they were tagging along behind the Canada Geese or out in front of the Greylags, when all of the geese flushed from the direction of the Flood Field.

Marsh Tit near the feeders (c) JR

Marsh Tit only made it onto the yearlist last week but there are now two of them in Morleys, one is coming regularly to the feeders and the other frequenting the bushes in the carpark.
When the weather is so cold animals hunker down out of the wind, if possible in the sunshine and are very reluctant to leave the warm sheltered spots that they have established. So it is with Hares. They like to occupy the drier higher ground now that the fields are much wetter, they particularly like the bunds that surround the reedbed. As one walks along they leave it to the very last moment to burst out of hiding and streak off it can very alarming if you are not expecting it.

Hare (c) Tezzer

The Redshank both seen and heard last week is of course the first of many. As we move through the month we should see the first Curlew appearing and probably a few Ruff feeding on the  wetter fields with  the Lapwings and the Goldies. We are certainly in the grip of winter at the moment but as it loosens changes will occur and the seasons will roll round again.

Chilly Robin (c) Bark

Saturday and Sunday 24 th and 25 th January

Male Bullfinch (c) Tom Nicholson-Lailey

Dawn (c) Tom Nicholson Lailey

A bright and sunny weekend for the most part but frosty early on. It is currently a real pleasure to make your way through the carpark field and along the bridle way preceded and at times accompanied by Bullfinches. They are particularly confiding as they munch their way through the blackthorn buds. They really stand out, glowing cerise against the bare branches in the low sunshine. The females are more subtly coloured but they too look wonderful in the sun.

Female Bullfinch (c) Andy Last

It was a very “birdy” weekend with some additions to the year-list and some good views of some of our scarcer residents.

New for the year was a Marsh Harrier on Sunday. It worked the reedbed and spent some time perched at the top on one of the bare willows on the northern sector. It is quite unusual to have one here at this time of the year, normally we would only expect to see them during the late spring, summer and early autumn. The bird appears to be  a juvenile and from its size is probably a female. It is very dark chocolate brown with a very pale head  and face.

Female Beardy (c) Bark

Bearded Tits featured well on Saturday but had disappeared again by Sunday. There may well be more than one group of them. They were heard and seen in the regular area near the Noke turn at the same time as being heard and later seen in the reeds beside the path to the first screen. We only actually saw one there, a female feeding at the top of the reed stems. Despite showing really well all my photographs fail to show its head and when they do the bird is out of focus! There are several Song Thrushes hunting snails along the paths, occasionally they can be seen or heard battering them open on convenient stones.

Songthrush (c) JR

The Marsh Harrier on Sunday clearly spooked the Bittern and we saw the two of them flying together, the Bittern landing and then flushing again as the Harrier hassled it. Good to know that  Bittern is still in residence and next month we will be eagerly listening out for any vocalisations. There are definitely two Cettis Warblers on the reserve at present with one half way along the bridle way and the other out at the second screen.

Wildfowl flush over reedbed (c) Bark

Teal (c) JR

When the first volley of shots rang out from the rifle range on Sunday a vast number of duck, principally Wigeon but also Teal flushed up from Greenaways. We estimated that there were well over two thousand wildfowl in the air at the same time, it was very spectacular. After milling around for  a while most of the Teal settled on the reedbed and the Wigeon on Big Otmoor. There were at least twenty Pintail out in the same area and good numbers of Shoveller.

Pintail pair (c) JR

Most of the Golden Plovers are feeding out on the fields to the west of the reserve. From time to time they would flush and fly round rapidly in response to threats both real and imagined. Once again Peregrines can be seen sitting out on the trees to the left of the trail to the second screen. The Lapwings that flew up from Greenaways on Saturday morning were accompanied by at least seven or eight Dunlin.

Finch flock (c) Tom Nicholson-Lailey

The finch flock by the hide is attracting a lot of attention from visitors. It offers the opportunity to see the diverse range of Reed Bunting plumages as they moult out of winter into mature summer dress. There is still the chance that the flock will attract some other species to join in the seed bonanza.

The Starling roost continues but has changed. The birds seem to be assembling out on Ashgrave and then flying round with some of them roosting in the hedges beside Ashgrave and the Closes and others returning to the reedbed as it gets dark. It was certainly spectacular on Wednesday night although the number of birds participating has reduced. It is currently best viewed from the bridle way or the path to July’s Meadow.

Moorhen on ice (c) JR

Greylags (c) Bark

 

Saturday and Sunday 17th and 18th January

Linnets (c) JR

A very wintery feel this weekend with a light dusting of snow on Saturday morning that soon gave way to bright sharp sunshine. Sunday too started grey, but soon brightened up and was less windy than Saturday. The most notable aspect of this weekend was the sheer numbers of birds on and around the moor.

Golden Plover are mostly feeding in the black sheep fields to the west of the reserve and there are well over a thousand of them. Lapwings too are present in similar numbers and there are smaller peripheral flocks feeding in the other fields. Their numbers can only really be appreciated when one of the two Peregrines present makes a pass, causing a mass flush. We saw one on Saturday almost take a Teal over the reedbed. It was flying fast and suddenly accelerated into a stoop and very nearly bagged breakfast, the Teal jinking at the last moment and avoiding capture.

Grazing Wigeon (c) JR

Wigeon too are reaching their winter maxima and can be seen out on all of our fields grazing, they flush back into the water when Kites pass over but it takes the Peregrine to get them properly airborne. They fly fast and close and like the Lapwings and the Goldies they seem to flicker as they wheel in the low sunshine.

Over a hundred Linnets (c) JR

The other large flocks are of Reed Buntings and Linnets. They are coming down to feed on the fine seed mix that is being scattered beside and to the south of the hide. Numbers have been building steadily and on Sunday I felt there were even more than we had seen on Saturday. It has been a long time since we had so many Linnets on the reserve, there are nearly two hundred now. I counted one hundred and twenty in one of the photographs sent to me and that only covered some of the flock. On Saturday morning we counted over sixty Reed Buntings in one section of the path alone. The Linnets are particularly attractive both individually and collectively as a flock. Each bird seems to be bouncing along on its own strand of elastic and yet the flock moves around purposefully. When they settle together on some of the bare bushes they look just like leaves.

Reed Bunting (c) Bark

Such numbers inevitably attract raptors and a young Sparrowhawk can often be seen in the vicinity of the Hide.

Sparrowhawk and Magpie (c) JR

Smaller yet significant numbers of other birds are also present. Several parties of Snipe could be seen notably over Greenaways and the reedbed. At least twenty one Pintail were out on Big Otmoor and a similar number of Gadwall were on the reedbed lagoons.

Our huge grazing flocks of Canada and Greylag Geese are still accompanied by three European White-fronted Geese and the little Ross’s Goose. I had hoped that we might have been able to tempt some of the Barnacle Geese from Port Meadow to join us on the moor, but there’s still time.

Vole muncher (c) JR

One of our resident Herons has taken to stalking the bridleway in search of what must be an abundant vole population. It was seen to catch and consume two in a short period of time on Friday.

Another highlight of the weekend was first hearing and then seeing two Bearded Tits, a male and a female, from the bridle way about a hundred metres short of the turning up to Noke. They were in the Phragmites reedbed that runs all the way along the northern edge of Ashgrave.

Bullfinch eating buds (c) Bark

Several people commented on how confiding the Bullfinches are becoming in the carpark field. They have started to feed on the blackthorn buds there, whilst those along the bridle way seem to still seem to be gleaning the desiccated blackberry seeds.

Great Spot on the feeders (c) JR

I have been enjoying the wintery feel and look of the reserve, but if gets too much colder and it starts to freeze hard then things could change for the worst. It would be good if the Cetti’s, the Stonechats and the Bearded Tits could make it through the hard weather and the Cetti’s and the Beardies breed again in summer.

Goldfinch (c) JR

Saturday and Sunday 10th and 11th January

Goldies (c) JR

A very windy weekend with heavy squalls on Saturday morning and a much clearer brighter day on Sunday but still very blowy. We seem to be set into a weather pattern of fast moving Atlantic lows that are bringing a lot of rain and fortunately for wildlife, not too much in the way of frost and cold. Water levels across much of the moor are now at their winter optima and the wildfowl are really taking advantage of the wet fields, especially Greenaways and Big Otmoor. The latter seems to be holding very large numbers of Wigeon ,Lapwing and Golden Plover. It was so windy at times on Saturday that I am sure that I saw birds flying backwards. On Sunday in the sunshine the restless and nervous flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers flickered black and white across the clean blue sky.

Lapwings and Goldies both pics(c) Tom Nicholson-Lailey

Every so often all the ducks, largely Teal with a scattering of Shovellers and Gadwall would flush from the depths of the reedbed as one or another of the resident raptors made a low fast pass above the reeds. Two of the Otmoor regulars reported seeing a Peregrine take a Teal over Big Otmoor last week. Red Kites were ever present they contribute to the unease but seldom cause the mass panic that Peregrines and Sparrowhawks do.

Shovellers in rough water (c) JR

Snipe are also taking advantage of the flooded grassland. A flock of over forty were flying around the reedbed on Saturday. On Sunday as I was watching them being unsettled by a crow we noticed another much bigger , browner and fatter one which moved out of cover and back into cover not a Snipe of course but a Woodcock. Unusual to see out on Greenaways as they normally lie up on Morleys during the day moving out to feed at dusk. The numbers of seed eaters to seen from the hide is going up rapidly. I counted seventy five Reed Buntings on Sunday and an even larger number of Linnets.

Reed Bunt (c) JR

There has been a Little Egret moving between Ashgrave and the reedbed, this is very early in the year to record this species as they tend not to be on the moor in the winter months. Hopefully with so many Goosander being seen in the county some of them might make it onto the moor. They used to be  a regular, late winter visitor but have not been recorded in the last two years. Two mute Swans were getting going with courtship behaviour on Sunday prompted perhaps by the warmer weather, the slowly increasing day length or just because they felt like it.

Amourous Swans (c) Bark

Water Rail in transit (c) JR

Finally when in the carpark it is worthwhile spending a few minutes examining the vegetation between the parking bays, with patience it is possible to spot bank voles scuttling about looking for food. They are quite delightful to see, reddish brown with shiny boot button eyes and surprising confidence.

Voles (c) Tezzer

 

January: the first six days.

A Wigeon blizzard (c) J.R.

It’s been a rather grey and uninspiring start to the year weather-wise. On Saturday I didn't venture out at all due to the rain and on on Sunday trusting that the mist would lift we stumbled around the moor in the freezing fog. The fog did not lift all day! We did manage a walk round on New Years Day and managed to find just over fifty species to kick off the year list.

Frosted plants (c) Bark

Unfortunately the Bewick Swans from just before New Years Eve did not stay around, but the three White Fronted Geese were still with the large Grey Lag flock on the 1st of January. The goose flock seems to be commuting between the fields to the north west of the reserve and the huge scrape up on Ashgrave. This makes them very hard to see well as the distances involved are quite considerable and the grey gloomy conditions make even scoping difficult. It is certainly well worth finding and carefully scrutinising the flock, as there is always the possibility of other wild geese associating with them.

The Cetti’s warbler is still being heard up at the second screen and it may be that another individual was heard along the bridleway.

The path south of the hide is really attracting large numbers of small seed eating species. There was a flock of over thirty Linnets on Sunday and larger numbers of Reed Buntings and Chaffinches. It might be that we can succeed in attracting and then keeping some Tree Sparrows on the reserve. It was only about twenty years ago that they were a regular species here.

Duck numbers are reaching their annual peaks Wigeon and Teal are predominant with nearly fifteen hundred and five hundred respectively. There are very large numbers of Golden Plovers on and around the reserve with over three thousand recorded on Monday’s Webs count. Lapwings are also present in good numbers with nearly a thousand on the same survey.

Not surprisingly both the large number of waders and the still numerous Starling roost attracts raptors. The regular pair of Peregrines have been seen several times and although not yet confirmed for the year the Merlin photographed just after Christmas is well worth looking out for.

Merlin (c) J.R.

Hopefully next weekend will see a return to more birder friendly weather and we can get out and about and really see what’s about.

Long tailed tit (c) J.R.