Saturday and Sunday 13th and 14th February

Male Sprawk (c) JR

The folk origins of Valentine’s Day arose through the belief that it was on this day in February that wildlife, especially the birds, chose their mates for the year. Although we know that this is just an old wives’ tale there was much more evidence that courtship and display was getting going. The cold grey sleet and strong winds of Saturday gave way to sunshine and a chilly start on Sunday and it was on Sunday, St Valentine’s Day itself, that this “choosing” was most evident.

Valentines Swans (c) Bark

As I arrived a Song Thrush was singing lustily from the blackthorn in the carpark field and where I heard just one Chaffinch singing last weekend, on this Sunday I heard at least ten, spread out across the reserve. Skylarks were performing aerial displays above Greenaways and chasing each other across the sky. Great Tits and Dunnocks were also starting to sing more noticeably. Over the reedbed the resident pair of Marsh Harriers were reinforcing their pair bond flying together and simulating a food pass almost locking talons.

The skies were again dominated by huge numbers of Lapwings and Golden Plovers. My impression was of more Goldies than Lapwings but the birds were so spread out and flushed so often that it is very difficult to estimate accurate numbers. As the morning drew on they gradually became less nervous and flighty and flushed less frequently. They have been feeding on the Noke sides Fields and while there it is possible to go through them carefully and look for an American cousin. Sadly, none was found on Sunday but with such large numbers of birds it is quite possible that there might be an odd one, after all it happened twice on Port Meadow!

Another sign of the advancing season was the first returning Redshank found on Thursday morning, as we move towards March so their numbers will increase and we can also expect the first Curlew to arrive any time soon.

Sparrowhawks (c) Norman Smith

Although much reduced from its earlier numbers the Starling roost is still impressive and one of the reasons why we still attract lots of raptors to the reserve. It is easy to find the “walking wounded” feeding on the grassy edges and adjacent hedgerows during the day time. Unable to fly properly they scuttle off into the longer grasses and bushes as you come across them. It is inevitable that there will be casualties and ailing individuals and they offer an easy meal to both avian and mammalian predators alike.

As I have reported before, the winter seed feeding beside and to the south of the hide is proving again to be a great success. It provides food at a critical time for birds that rely on small seeds and weedy field margins, which are a fast disappearing resource. There is a “hungry gap” for seed eaters that extends into spring before the first weeds set seed and also those winter months when finding food is more difficult. We are now attracting over two hundred Linnets, well over a hundred and fifty Reed Buntings, Chaffinches, Goldfinches and this week twelve Yellowhammers, a bird that has been much scarcer on Otmoor since there has been a decline in arable farming in the area. It has also attracted Mallards, Wood Pigeons, Moorhens, five Stock Doves, assorted Rooks and Jackdaws and of course a pair of Sparrowhawks. So much available food will as everywhere else inevitably attract raptors. The male Sparrowhawk will often pause for a while right next to the hide on the fence, as it did on Saturday, offering superb views.

Taking advantage of the seeds (c) Bark

Out on Greenaways there are at least two pairs of Stonechats and another pair were found over on the Oddington side on Sunday. Bitterns are being seen regularly but as yet not a single boom has been heard. Over the next week we will be listening out for it and also for the first returning curlews.

Chilly Robin 9c) Bark

Sunday 7th January

Bittern (c) Neil Long

The weather this weekend meant only one visit to the moor was practical so we attempted to dodge the showers on Sunday morning. It was certainly worth the effort and we had some stunning atmospheric views of the masses of birds that are currently feeding and roosting on and just off the reserve.

Lapwings and Goldies (c) Tom Nicholson- Lailey

Early on Sunday we had very sharp showers and dark lowering skies punctuated by patches of blue sky and sunshine. Rainbows are always good to see but out on the moor we seem to have so much more sky for them to shine in. A complete arc set against the leaden sky of the clouds that had just past was beautiful in itself; but looked even better when sprinkled with the glittering flight of windblown Golden Plover and the flicker of hundreds of Lapwings.

Sparkling goldies (c) Tom Nicholson-Lailey

Both species are present in their thousands but there seemed to be very many more Lapwings and we tentatively estimated over five thousand individuals. Water levels have increased and there are now many more scrapes and pools for the wildfowl to occupy and there were very large numbers of all the duck species out on Greenaways, Big Otmoor and on Ashgrave. These included over forty Pintail on Big Otmoor

A larger party of over fifty snipe (c) Tom Nicholson-Lailey

Occasional Snipe can be spotted, especially when flushed up from the wet grassland by raptors. The raptors themselves are still present and all the regular species were seen. The male Marsh Harrier is now showing much more mature male plumage especially on his wings and the female continues to patrol both the reedbed and the flooded fields. From time to time the two birds can be seen to interact confirming their status as a pair.

Yellowhammer (c) Norman Smith

Numbers are continuing to rise in the finch flock south of the hide. More Yellowhammers are being seen and a few Greenfinches too. There is an odd looking Reed Bunting that has rather more white in its tail than is normal but it is nonetheless a Reed Bunting.

Reed Bunting (c) Norman Smith

Bitterns are being seen daily usually in flight but also occasionally in the reedy margins out from the second screen. We had one that flew up from the bund as we walked along the footpath to the second screen. There would appear to be a very healthy population of Water Rails as well, as can be gauged from the number of squeaks and squeals that we are hearing from the reedbed and from the ditches. From time to time they can be glimpsed as they fly from one side of the reeds to another.

Yellowhammer and MuteSwan (c) Tom nicholson-Lailey

A Song Thrush is already starting to call in the carpark field and on Sunday morning at least three Skylarks were in song over Greenaways. There are three different Cetti’s Warblers calling now and if the winter carries on in this same mild vein we can hope that they will make it through until spring. Let’s hope that this winter doesn’t come with a sting in its tail.

Goldies (c)Neil Long

Saturday and Sunday 30th and 31st January

Stonechat (c) JR

It was another weekend when the sheer numbers of birds were almost overwhelming. The weather was fine on Saturday but on Sunday the low cloud and mist hid most of the action in the skies.

At times on Saturday morning the swirling, windblown flocks seemed to be across all of the northern and western horizons at once. There are clearly very large numbers of Lapwings and Golden Plovers resting on the drier southern edge of the flood Field. They flushed in response to Marsh Harriers, Red Kites and Sparrow Hawks. They were very flighty and nervous and at times they flushed for no obvious reason at all. It is fascinating to see that although the birds all go up together they very soon separate into species discrete groups, the Golden Plovers Higher tighter and faster than the Lapwings slightly more ponderous flocks below.

Swirling flocks of Lapwings and Goldies (c) Tom Nicholson-Lailey

The seed feeding beside the hide is again going well and is beginning to draw in the sort of numbers that we saw last year, on Sunday morning as P.G. trundled out his hopper and spreader small groups of Linnets appeared to be drawn in and sat waiting in the hedges along the track. I was reminded of the way that wild swans come in to collect food from the man with the wheelbarrow at Slimbridge or the Ouse Washes. The flock is composed of almost equal numbers of Reed Buntings and Linnets, but it contains a few Yellowhammers and Greenfinches, as well as larger numbers of Chaffinches and Goldfinches. Careful and patient watching could be rewarded by views of one or other of the Bramblings that are also in attendance.

Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings by the Hide (c) Derek Lane

There are a pair of Stonechats that can often be seen on the bulrushes just out from the hide another pair have taken up residence on the western edge of Greenaways, there is yet another to be seen at Noke and the last time I heard there were a couple out at the Pill. The two Grey Wagtails that have taken up winter quarters in and around the cattle pens have been joined by three Pied Wagtails. It is amazing that all five appear to finding enough sustenance to keep them going in such a small area.

Pied Wagtail (c) JR

We have one marsh Harrier that is catching fish something that I dont recall having heard of before.

Carrying a fish off to eat.(c) Norman Smith

Duck numbers across the reserve are still growing. One hundred and fifty Pintail this morning on the regular Webs count, approximately two hundred Shoveller, roughly a thousand Wigeon and six hundred or so Teal. The Wigeon in front of the hide are great to watch as they graze on the fresh grass, occasionally panicking and flying back into the water on masse, when not loafing or feeding many of them are displaying. Head bobbing, neck stretching and whistling their distinctive call.

Wigeon by the Hide (c) JR

Snipe are not so easy to see lying up beside the scrapes and pools on Greenways and are much more likely to be seen when flushed up from the grasslands by passing raptors. The Bitterns are still being seen regularly as they relocate within the reed bed and sometimes as they feed along the reedy edges near the second screen. Water levels look sure to rise over the coming few weeks, as this current stream of Atlantic low pressure systems continues to batter the country. The watery fields will attract feeding gulls and perhaps something more unusual like a spoonbill or an Ibis. Great white Egrets are very well established on the Somerset Levels now and I feel sure that it’s only a matter of time before they start to take up more permanent residence with us.

Starlings singly and collectively (c) Tom Nicholson Lailey