Saturday and Sunday 7th and 8th May

Cetti's Warbler (c) Pat Galka

The temperature contrast between this and last weekend could not have been greater. Birds across the moor are singing and establishing territories making up for the cold start to spring. On an early morning survey last week, the dawn chorus was exceptional. We were surveying hedgerows on the Oddington side and were staggered by the sheer numbers of Sedge Warblers. It must be optimal habitat for them, during our circuit of the Flood Field alone we counted a minimum of twenty-four singing males.

Sedgie (c) JR

Reedy (c) JR

We also heard and saw two Grasshopper Warblers in places that we had not found them before. One individual was so close I could almost have touched it; it was of course one of those occasions when I was not carrying my camera!

We have experienced a really good passage of waders over the last couple of weeks. A Wood Sandpiper was out on Big Otmoor and stayed around for at least two days. A Whimbrel was seen last weekend and at least twice during the week, another or the same bird was heard calling on Sunday morning. On Saturday we saw a group of large and small waders flying and then settling out in the middle of Big Otmoor. The larger waders were male Ruff in breeding plumage. One of them looked at first like a summer plumaged male Spotted Redshank it was so black. It was only when it moved out from amongst the sedges and we could scope it that we could clearly identify it. One of the others was dark but not as black and the third was a buffy cream colour. The small waders turned out to be eight Ringed Plovers and three Dunlin. There are now little groups of Lapwing chicks all over the field, shepherded and guarded by their anxious parents. We also managed to pick out some Redshank chicks.

Gosling ahhhh! (c) JR

There are many families of geese mostly Canadas and Greylags but there are also some weird hybrids out there the Barnacle goose has a Canada goose in tow and the Ross’s Geese seem intent on producing even more strange hybrids. It may be that the high density of geese and goslings takes some of the pressure off the Lapwings and the Redshanks, offering predators more choice and also distracting them.

Cuckoos   top (c) Derek Lane   lower (c) JR

Cuckoos are ever present and we we have one individual that looks to have had a close run in with a predator, it has no tail at all! This does not seem to have prevented it from calling and displaying alongside other fully feathered cuckoos.

We were able to confirm that there are at least two Turtle Doves present and we hope that others will join them and later on we will be able to confirm breeding this year, something we were unable to do in 2015. It was galling to hear the facile and pathetic arguments and justifications put forth by a representative of the Maltese hunting fraternity on BBC Countryside last night. They flout the EU directive banning spring migrant hunting and yet were given a platform to attempt to state that their sporting activity did not harm the Turtle Dove population. I feel they should not have been given the oxygen of publicity or indeed the oxygen of oxygen! At least while here our birds will have a good chance to breed and build up for the challenges of autumn migration.

Back on its perch (c) Derek Lane

The Common Terns are already eying up the tern raft and we thought that there were two pairs present on Saturday morning. They are very aggressive and were quite prepared to take on any overflying gulls or harriers.

An overflying Osprey was seen in the week, an annual bird but seldom one that sticks around. Five Hobbies were over the moor on Thursday evening and we are getting to the time of year when we host our highest concentration of these falcons.

Common Terns (c) JR

Two different Spotted Flycatchers were seen on Saturday. One was in the hedge beside the track to Noke and the other in the Roman Road area. I hope they will breed nearby this year as they seem to have done last year.

Spot Fly (c) Pete Roby

We have now recorded one hundred and thirty-five species for the year and now adding to that list becomes much more difficult. I expect that Quail will be the next assuming of course that they have not all been blasted out of the sky en route!

Goldfinch (c) Derek Lane

May Bank Holiday

Whinchat (c) JR

As I got out of my car on Sunday morning I heard the sound that I had anxiously been hoping for, a Turtle Dove purring out his soft summer song. Some of my friends had already gone ahead of me and I called them up and called them back. The bird had been up in the big willows by the gate but transferred into the Roman Road while I was waiting for the others to get back to see it. It called a couple of times and then flew into the MOD land. I was worried that perhaps with wishful thinking I had imagined it, but once the others joined me we walked along the lane and looked over the gate to the rifle range. We finally picked it out at the top of one of the large oaks. It was preening and calling occasionally. I had assumed that it would be reported again later in the day but I have not heard that it has been seen again. Is it one of our resident birds returning or just a passage wanderer? Only the next few weeks will tell, but at least one of these much persecuted beautiful icons of summer has made it here.

Garden Warbler (c) Pete Roby

As well as being thrilled to find the Turtle Dove there was very much more to be found and enjoyed. Ten species of Warbler were seen and heard this weekend with the arrival of Garden Warbler completing the suite of warblers that we expect on Otmoor each summer. We found two singing in competition with each other along the bridle way towards Noke. They showed well in the open appearing somewhat stout, more like rather plain chats than delicate warblers.

Reed warbler (c) JR

From the reeds beside the bridle way Reed Warblers kept up their steady rhythmic chorus, while Sedge warblers belted out their frantic and chaotic songs building to a crescendo until their passion drives them to fly straight up into the air and then parachute down still singing lustily. Cetti’s Warblers are present across the moor in really good numbers, the mild winter has helped them back to the kind of population that we had before their numbers crashed to zero in the harsh winter several years ago. Although they essentially have the same volume and structure to their calls we commented this weekend that individuals have subtly different songs which you could almost describe as different accents. The Grasshopper Warbler that has taken up residence along the path to the first screen continued to show well at close range whilst reeling away, however it was attracting many more photographers than potential mates.

Gropper and Sedgie (c) Derek lane

As we walked along the bridleway on Sunday Snipe drummed overhead and Skylarks could be heard continuously. At Noke there are still Wheatears passing through, favouring the short grass sheep fields as they have done all spring. There was a White Wagtail out amongst the sheep on Sunday the first that I have seen this spring on Otmoor.

There have been more waders coming through on passage. This weekend we found a Greenshank, a Ruff and a Common Sandpiper on Big Otmoor. During a survey that I was doing on Thursday we found eight Dunlin on the Flood Field along with a single Ringed Plover.

Oystercatcher (c) JR

The lone female juvenile Peregrine attracted a lot of attention as it sat on one of the posts on the far side of Greenaways. It is a very pale bird and is very large. Marsh Harriers continue to patrol the reed beds and the Red Kites are often high over Big Otmoor with an eye out for a meal. They are mobbed in large numbers by Lapwings that now have small vulnerable chicks on the ground. There are also many geese with small goslings although the parent geese are not easily intimidated by potential predators. A single Hobby sat out on one of the Greenaways posts on Sunday and will undoubtedly be joined by others in the next couple of weeks.

Defensive Lapwings and a Chick (c) Tom N-L

We saw a good variety of mammals this weekend with Roe Deer and a limping Muntjac, boxing Hares and a Fox that helped itself to the contents of a Lapwings nest on the Closes, while being dive bombed by the frantic birds. Provided the eggs had not hatched the Lapwings will try again, hopefully next time within the anti-predator fence on Big Otmoor.

Cuckoo and limping Muntjac (c) JR

Saturday and Sunday 23rd and 24th April

Gropper (c) JR

At the risk of sounding like some xenophobic rant from Nigel Farage, “migrants are continuing to pour in”! It was cool and breezy at the weekend, but the moor was still alive with birdsong and busily foraging new arrivals.

Bumble Bee gathering pollen (c) Norman Smith

The blackthorn is in full frothing bloom and provides an insect rich feeding ground for small passerines and highly picturesque song posts for territorial males in search of a mate.

Sedgie and Lesser Whitethroat (c) JR

Two Grasshopper Warblers were reeling in the car park field and along the track to the first screen. There were several other individuals both out at the pill and on the Oddington side. The bird along the path to the screen had clearly not read the manual and was the opposite of “skulking” (as the books insist on describing them) it reeled out its mechanical call from the top and sides of a bare willow.

Singing Sedgie (c) Derek Lane

I first heard and then saw my first Common Whitethroats of the year, while Lesser Whitethroats appear to have returned in good numbers, if judging by the number of singing males is anything to go by. Wrens were calling from almost every bramble often disputing loudly with close neighbours.

Wren (c) Derek Lane

At least two Cuckoos were present on Saturday, however at least five different individuals were about last Wednesday.

Cuckoo last week (c) Tom N-L

Over the reedbed on Saturday there was a mixed flock of all three common Hirundines. They were flying just above the reed tops and close to the water presumably feeding on an emerging hatch of flies. Amongst them were several Swifts the first I have seen this year and a little earlier than we expect to see them.

On Saturday two Common Terns were over the second lagoon feeding and shrieking.

Common Tern (c) JR

The Bar tailed Godwit from early last week has moved on but I was fortunate enough to find a lone Whimbrel on Noke sides early on Sunday morning it flew off giving its characteristic “seven whistles”. Out on the North Pill Ground and beyond seven Curlew were both seen and heard.

Greenshank Closes (c) Tom N-L

We observed some strange Redshank behaviour on Saturday morning out on Big Otmoor. Seven or eight individuals gathered around a small area and started performing a strange low hovering flight a few feet off the ground. As they did this they were joined by more and more individuals until there were twenty-five birds there taking it in turns to flutter and hover over the area. We could not hear any alarm calls but it was probably a mobbing activity, a Grass Snake perhaps or even a weasel. After five or so minutes they began to lose interest and drift away. There is always something new to see on Otmoor.

Redshank (c) Tom N-L

The large female Peregrine that has been seen regularly was there on both days this weekend. She can often be seen out on the posts on the far side of Greenaways and at other times out on the posts on Ashgrave some way up the hill.

I was unable to find a Whinchat this weekend but one had been seen earlier in the week. A search up near the farm at Noke and out out on the Pill failed to turn one up, but I did find three Wheatears feeding under and around the sheep and lambs on the short grass at Noke.

The first week in May is usually the time that Hobbies arrive en-masse and can be seen feeding on St Marks Flies as they drift across Greenaways. At least one has already arrived as can be seen in the superb pictures by Roger Wyatt of one being pursued by a Merlin in the skies above Greenaways. We have often noticed that these two species of falcon overlap by a couple of weeks in both Spring and Autumn.

We are now getting into the anxious period of waiting to see whether our Turtle Doves make it back to the moor. Let’s hope that they have wintered safely, that the weather on their migration has helped them on their way and they have avoided the barrage of shooters all the way here. Fingers crossed!

Roe Deer Swimming on Closes before being chased off by Lapwings (c) JR