Rest of August and into September

 

Success at last! Early days.  (c) Fergus Mosey

August is often a quiet birding month but this year it has been quite the opposite on Otmoor. Autumn passage has started somewhat earlier than we usually expect. There has been a steady stream of waders coming through the scrapes and lagoons.

Black-tailed Godwit (c) Bark

As the water levels have drawn down at the first screen reed stubble and mud has been exposed, offering excellent feeding conditions for waders.

Snipe (c) Bark

The water has been receding slowly, which steadily allows access to new feeding areas as it does so. Snipe have been taking advantage of this and there have been up to fifty present, although they are difficult to count, their cryptic plumage blending perfectly with the reed stubble.

Snipe (c) Bark

Greenshanks have been regular, delicately picking their way around the margins, as have Green and Common Sandpipers.

Greenshanks (c) Bark

Lapwings have been using the muddy banks not for feeding but as safe daytime roosts, where they can preen and rest.

Early returning Golden Plover (c) Bark

Three weeks ago, there was a very early returning Golden Plover still in remnants of its summer plumage.

Greenshank (above) and Little Stint (c) Bark

An exciting find just this weekend was the second Little Stint to be seen on the moor this year, the other was a spring passage bird seen in a more remote part of the reserve. It was good to have the chance to appreciate just how small this diminutive wader is, as it was towered over and sometimes chased about by Snipe.

A chance to see how small when next to a Snipe (c) Bark

Ducks too are loafing on the banks as they moult their feathers. There are still several Garganey amongst them and there are three eclipse plumage Pintail out at the far end of the lagoon The scattering of white and grey feathers can sometimes make it look as if there has been a light dusting of snow.

Mandarins on the Tern raft (c) Bark

At the second screen up to seven Mandarin ducks have been seen, often perching on the low branches of the willows on the right-hand side or sitting on the now deserted tern raft.

All three Egret species have been very much in evidence across the reserve.

Great White Egret (c) Tom N-L

Cattle Egrets have gone from being rare vagrants to regular residents in just a few months. They feed out among the grazing animals and return to the  islands in the lagoons to rest and preen.

Cattle Egrets flying in (c) Bark

There have been up to four juvenile birds amongst them probably the youngsters that were raised at Blenheim this summer.

Tow adults and a juvenile (c) Bark

As we have become more familiar with all three Egrets, it has become possible to recognise their very different flight patterns and wing profiles, they each display a very distinctive jizz.

Whinchats have appeared in all the regular places that we expect them every Autumn as have Redstarts and Spotted Flycatchers.

Male Redstart (c) Tezzer

Sightings have been reported from The Pill, Long Meadow and Lower Farm at Noke. There were at least four Whinchats together out at the Pill last weekend.

Long Meadow Spot Fly (c) Bark

The biggest news this month however has been confirmation of the first successful fledging of a Common Crane on Otmoor. Certainly not the first ever but probably the first for over five hundred years! I have reported the comings and goings of “our” Cranes over the last six years and their trials and tribulations in attempting to breed.

Juvenile and Adult Common Crane (c) Fergus Mosey

Whenever chicks have been successfully hatched, they have inevitably succumbed to predation at different times before they mastered flight. Ground nesting birds such as Cranes are vulnerable to predation at all stages of their breeding cycle. The Cranes that did finally succeed were not our original pair, but a second pair that first arrived on the moor in 2020 and manged to hatch a chick that unfortunately did not survive as long as a week. This year however “Ted” and “Excalibird” the parents, took advantage of the rapid grass growth that hid their nest and once hatching had occurred also concealed their chick.

The whole Crane family just appearing over the grass (c) Fergus Mosey

Otmoor had remained wet for much longer than recent summers which helped to ensure an abundant source of food for the developing youngster.

Swallows at Noke (c) JR

Swallows and Martins are gathering in small flocks and feeding over the reedbed and will soon depart to be replaced in a months’ time by a different suite of birds. In that transitional time something rare and interesting might well appear.

Oddington Wryneck (c) Mark Stanley-Price

Already there has been a Wryneck feeding on a lawn in a private garden in Oddington, which by my criteria qualifies it for the Otmoor list and makes it the one hundred and sixty-third species for the year.

The colours of autumn are starting to appear (c) Bark

First two weeks of August Egrets and Waders

Wood Sandpiper (c) Bark

The water on the southern reedbed has continued to draw down steadily and as it does so is exposing larger areas of mud and reed stubble.

Early morning Blue Tit (c) Bark

This area is acting like a magnet to passing waders and Snipe. Over the last week we have seen Wood, Green and Common Sandpipers picking their way through the reed stubble and out onto the muddy margins.

Wood Sand and Green Sand (c) Bark

There has also  been a handful of Greenshanks through. On Sunday there was a returning Ruff feeding out there, looking very bright and spangly, altogether heavier and more solid than the delicate and refined Wood Sandpiper that it superficially resembles. There are good numbers of Lapwings scattered across the island, moulting, loafing and chattering quietly amongst themselves.

Sipe abve (c) JR below (c) Bark

This weekend there were over fifty Snipe feeding and preening amongst the dead reed stems, as always blending in perfectly. They are so well camouflaged that it might well be that fifty is a serious underestimate. At least two juvenile Water Rails could be seen scuttling in and out of the still growing reeds.

Juvenile Water Rail (c) Bark

They are browner, scruffier and lack the adult bird’s smart clean plumage and bright red beak. Last Saturday a Yellow wagtail was also out there perched up on the dead reeds amongst the Snipe. As the month draws on, we can expect to see more of them feeding around the grazing animals and roosting in the reedbed by night.

Snipe (c) Bark

The recent influx of Cattle Egrets to the county has also been reflected on Otmoor. They have frequently appeared in amongst the grazing cattle on all of the major fields with six seen amongst and over the herd on The Closes last weekend.

Six Cattle Egrets over The Closes (c) Bark

As the cattle lay down two Egrets could be seen standing on their backs like those on Buffalo in the Kruger National Park. Both Little and Cattle Egrets have taken to resting and preening on the mudbanks in front of the first screen where the differences between the two species can really be appreciated.

Serengeti Egrets? (c) JR

The comparison prompted the observation from one eminent birder “ How come they are called Little Egrets when they are so much bigger than Cattle Egrets?” The Cattle Egrets have bred successfully at Blenheim and although it is very late in the season were seen and photographed carrying sticks into the isolated willow tree out from the first screen.

Egrets on Greenaway's (c) Oz

We know, thanks to Terry’s dedicated team of Bittern watchers, that they have fledged chicks from three different nests, although the number of fledged young is not certain. They are being seen frequently, flying around the reserve, feeding out in the ditches and landing in the reedbed, although “landing” is something of a misnomer. Bitterns, especially young ones, tend to crash heavily into the reeds rather than landing in any kind of controlled way!

Bittern (c) Nick Truby

Passage whinchat on Greenaway's (c) Nick Truby

The first returning Whinchat has been seen out on Greenaway’s and there are regular reports of both adult and juvenile Redstarts in the bushes and hedges of Long Meadow.

Juvenile redstart (c) Bark

Mixed flocks of tits and warblers are roaming across the moor and there are still Reed and Sedge Warblers along the ditches and in the reedbed.

Reed and Sedge Warblers (c) Bark

The yearlist has gone up by yet another species when a female mandarin duck was seen at the second screen taking it up to an extraordinary one hundred and sixty-two for the year.

Female Mandarin at the second screen (c) Rob Cadd

All through July

 

Corn Bunting (c) JR

As the waters continue to drain down at the first screen, it has become the current “hotspot” on the moor. There has been a steady stream of returning waders moving through and pausing to refuel. The extensive area of reed stubble from the cutting in the winter of 2019-20 is now proving irresistible to loafing ducks, both juveniles from this year’s clutches and to adults that are now going into moult and eclipse.

Snipe at first screen (c) Bark

As is to be expected there are now significant numbers of Snipe in amongst the short brown reed-stems, they melt into their surroundings perfectly, their camouflage so much more effective than anything we might come up with! They are prone to taking sudden flight and when they do there always seem to be more of them as they flush than we had thought were there!

Blackwits (c) Darrell Woods

Black-tailed Godwits have been visiting, still resplendent in their smart brick-red summer plumage. Wood Sandpipers have been seen regularly, both here and out on the edges of the Big Otmoor scrapes, we have recorded this scarcer wader more often this year than for many years. Common and Green Sandpipers have also dropped in from time to time, picking their way delicately through the dead reeds and around the legs of the loafing ducks.

Oystercatchers      Above (c) JR     below (c) Bark

A family party of Oystercatchers flew into the island with two adults and four juveniles. The juveniles are distinctive in having bills that are less uniformly red and having browner rather than jet black backs. They were joined by another adult before flying off together onto Big Otmoor. We assumed that these are the birds that have bred out on Big Otmoor this year.

Juvenile Oystercatcher flying in (c) JR

All three Egret species have been seen out from the first screen. Little Egrets have predominated with a peak count of around twenty there in mid-month. They must have been finding plenty to eat in the way of small fish as the shoals of small fry and larger Rudd can be seen clearly in the shallow waters in front of the screen.

Young Heron with breakfast and interested Egrets above (c) Bark

Evidence that there are some larger fish out there could be confirmed, when a young hunting Grey Heron speared a fish out near the island. Its prey was much longer than its head and had to be taken over to dry land to be finally dispatched and swallowed, with a struggle. This attracted what looked like an admiring crowd of Little Egrets that were obviously hoping to steal or share the meal, but all of them far too small to cope with such a catch.

Cattle Egret in oak tree behind first screen (c) JR

At the second screen the Common Terns have completed their breeding cycle and there were just two chick free adults sitting out on the raft last Sunday. It seems to be a very rapid turnaround from incubation to fully fledged and flying youngsters. The high energy and high protein fish diet must encourage speedy growth and development. Although the Garganey numbers have reduced somewhat there are still three juveniles and an adult in and around the two stunted willows on the right-hand edge of the lagoon.

Black-necked Grebe    above (c) JR    and below (c) Bark

For just a couple of days two weekends ago a juvenile Black-necked Grebe was seen around the margins of the northern lagoon. It was occasionally swimming and feeding close to the Little Grebes and one of their offspring which sometimes led to confusion. It became the one hundred and sixtieth species to recorded on the moor this year, rapidly followed by a Quail, flushed by the tractor on Saunders Ground, which became number one hundred and sixty-one!

Corn Buntings above (c) JR    below (c) Bark

Out at the Pill there are a number of pairs of Corn Buntings, not a species that is found very often around the moor. A number of males arrived at the start of July and started to sing and establish territories. We have speculated that they may have been displaced from another location where silage cutting and haymaking may have started early and so disturbed their breeding.

Curlew (c) Bark

There are also young Curlew out on and over the MOD land they can be distinguished from adult birds by their smaller size and their shorter beaks, there was a small party of eight there yesterday. It appears that this has been a good year for Curlew on Otmoor helped by the wet weather keeping the ground soft for feeding and the active nest protection, undertaken by the RSPB and its volunteers. Clutches were protected with short electric fences to deter mammalian predators at the incubation stage.

Sedge Warbler (c) JR and Reed Warbler (c) Bark

The seasonal trails in the Carpark Field are now open and are well worth a walk through. The scrubby habitat contains mixed flocks of warblers and tits, on Sunday there was a Redstart calling in there and other Redstarts have been found in the regular places. Spotted Flycatcher families have been seen up on the edge of Noke Wood so there is plenty to look for, the next our or five weeks could bring in some scarcer passage migrants and perhaps some exciting news.

Banded Demoiselle (c) Bark