Many thanks to
Steve and Pete who did a sterling job on the blog last weekend during my
absence. It’s great to know that the blog is being written by a couple of
people who are equally as passionate and just as enthusiastic about the place
as I am.
Notmoor:
I took a
mid-March trip once again to Fuerteventura for a week of warm weather, peace,
good food and relaxation. I had all of these and I had some great birding too.
I have a regular pattern when on holiday, I get up and go out as soon as it is
light, spend a couple of hours birding, return and have breakfast and then
spend the rest of the day with my non-birding partner.
Last Christmas
I wrote a piece for the regular “Clackanory” spot (see below) which described my first
ever encounter with a rather inept Houbara Bustard doing his display. This year
I could not believe my luck when on my third morning out on the gravel plains I
saw the whole thing again. This time not half a mile away as it had been the
previous year but very much closer. My photographs this year are not of a
rather blurry ball of cotton wool half way up a distant hill, but show the
extraordinary plumage and behaviour in much more detail. They are the most
spectacular birds and although not brightly coloured they really give Birds of
Paradise a run for money in the dramatic plumage stakes.
His Ladies
I was not only
lucky with the Bustards, having found two females and another distant male, but
also finally managed to get some half way decent pictures of Cream Coloured
Coursers, which had eluded me on all my previous visits.
Black Bellied Sandgrouse
I found Black-bellied
Sandgrouse creeping along beside the track and using the car as a hide managed
to get close to them and photograph them too. Previously I had only ever had
brief flight views. The Canary island sub-species of Great Grey Shrike was much
more wary and unapproachable and I only managed distant shots of it.
Koenigi subspecies of Great Grey Shrike
I also caught
up with one of the few birds that occur on Fuerteventura that I had not seen
before. I flushed a Barbary Partridge that ran off up a hillside. A very
distinctive bird with a dark line on the top of its head and with very
different and distinctive colouration. Desert birding can be challenging but
patience and persistence allowed some great encounters with shy and elusive
species.
Cream coloured Coursers
The beach also offered
some excellent opportunities to get close to species that we always find very
nervous and flighty here. A Whimbrel feeding on the rocks allowed me to get
within fifteen feet or so before moving a short way away and a Ringed Plover
also allowed a very close approach. The only special bird that I failed to find
this year was the Fuerteventura Stonechat, there are certainly easier sites for
it than the ones that I was visiting. Despite this slight disappointment it was
a great weeks’ birding and a great holiday.
Trumpeter Finch and Spanish Sparrow All Fuerteventura pics (c) Bark
Clackanory- A previous encounter with the Houbara's of Fuerteventura.
Otmoor
Saturday and Sunday 25th and 26th March
Back on the
moor on Saturday morning I was struck by how much it has changed in the two
weeks since my last visit. It was bright after a frosty night and there was a
keen easterly wind blowing. As I always seem to do when I have been away, I was
under dressed for the weather and had forgotten my hat and gloves. Some changes
were particularly marked, the greenness of the fields, the swell of soft colour
in the budding hedgerows and of course the earliest frothy white flowers of the
Blackthorn.
G.C.Gs above (c) JR below Tom NL
The Otmoor
Yearlist has been moving along smartly and we set off on Saturday morning with
great intentions of adding to the tally. I know that sometimes we get can get
carried away with hope and excitement in early spring and forget that the
season and its migrants progress in fits and starts, the whole system governed
by wind direction and weather.
Despite our
disappointment at not finding a new incoming migrant there was a lot to be
interested in and to enjoy seeing. There are a pair of Great Crested Grebes
building their nest directly in front of the first screen. It is something of
an apology for a nest as yet, they are still cementing their relationship with
each other rather than adding vegetation to the pile. They have been head shaking,
“dancing” and presenting each other with weeds. It is fascinating to watch, as
it will be to follow the progress of the nest and the stripy grebelings when
they hatch.
Pintail (c) Tom NL
As in recent
weeks the birdiest part of the reserve is still Big Otmoor. There are still
significant numbers of Teal, Wigeon, Shoveller and Pintail out there, as well
as large numbers of breeding Lapwings and Redshanks. Amongst all these birds it
is possible to find Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and occasional Ruff. There are
five Oystercatchers on and around the reserve but they roam far and wide one
pair favouring Noke Sides and the other Ashgrave.
Four of the five Oystercatchers (c) JR
All weekend there were
displaying and calling Curlew over the western edge of Greenaways and over the
MOD land. I was pleased on Sunday morning to hear and see my first drumming Snipe
of the spring, the drummer was being called to by a mate “chipping” from the
grass. We saw a small flock of Golden Plover on Saturday but the massive
numbers of only a week ago seem to have departed.
Already successful Moorhens (c) Derek Latham
It looks very much as if
Black Headed Gulls will be joining the breeding birds on big Otmoor. I was
initially concerned that this could impact on our breeding waders and we would
lose more Lapwing and Redshank chicks to gull predation. However the situation
may not be as difficult as it first appears, the gulls are very aggressive when
defending their eggs and young and so it might well be that they act as a
deterrent to the predatory Crows and Kites. We will see.
Full volume Cetti's (c) JR
On the raptor
front we seem to have two pairs of Marsh Harriers in residence at the reedbed.
There were definitely four individual birds in the air simultaneously on Sunday
morning. There are clearly two different males one looking much less mature
than the other. The Hen Harrier is still with us and made a slow flypast over
the reedbed on Sunday morning. There are two different Peregrines over and
around the reserve but hard to know if they represent a pair or not.
Chiffy (c) JR
I sometimes wonder just how huge our population of grass snakes is and how normal it is. Last week steve and Pete counted thirty seven basking in the sun on the dead reeds beside the bridle way, this weekend on Sunday we spotted thirty four. There must be a very much larger population than that sspread across the whole moor.
Ball of Grass Snakes (c) Carl Gray
The next wave
of migrants should be coming in this week now that the wind has swung around to
a more gentle southerly direction. Willow Warbler and perhaps a Sedge warbler
next weekend?
Bark is otherwise indisposed this week and has asked us to look after the blog, however we fully expect him back in his own well-known roosting spot by next weekend.
Spring is such an exciting time for birders and hopes are
naturally raised as winter passes in favour of longer days and warmer weather,
promising summer visitors and passage migrants.
However weather conditions
often determine expectation levels and these can be rather changeable in
mid-March, so while we experienced beautiful sunny days earlier in the week,
these gave way to cooler, greyer and much windier conditions by the weekend.
The
over-wintering Short-eared Owl was on show on Monday but had disappeared by the
weekend and it remains to be seen whether it has moved on or is just taking
another break from its well-known roosting spot.
Stirring from their slumbers...Grass Snake have starting to be spotted on the warmer days
along the edges of the dykes and ditches on the reserve, thirty seven were counted recently.
Photo courtesy of John Workman.
There is such a different atmosphere when the sun shines, not
only was the wonderful sound of Skylark song cascading down from all over the
reserve on Monday, but the first Brimstones, Commas and Small Tortoiseshells
were on the wing and Grass Snakes could be found basking in favoured spots. These
had returned to winter quarters by the weekend and were nowhere to be seen in
the chillier conditions.
One of the highlights of the week was the number of
Peregrine hunts we were lucky enough to witness. We still have substantial
numbers of birds on the reserve and Peregrines very often cause large mixed
flocks to rise, wheeling into the air, creating a spectacular sight and a clue
to what may be going on.
Peregrine Falcon courtesy of Eddie Mclaughlin
One of these attacks involved both male and female
Peregrine zeroing-in on a seemingly doomed Snipe. While one raptor chased it
down the other tried to cut-off avenues of escape, but the resilient little wader
was able to perform a number of evasive manoeuvres, constantly losing height before
finally dropping out of the sky into cover in the nick of time. Buzzards, Red
Kites and the male Marsh Harrier were also harassed by Peregrine over the
favoured hunting area of Big Otmoor where the majority of wildfowl and waders
can be found.
Although thousands of Golden Plover have already moved on a
substantial number are still on the reserve, many of which are moving into
their lovely summer plumage. This can be appreciated either when they pass by
in flight or better still as they gather together on the ground. It will not be
long before these too are gone.
Curlew courtesy of Andy Last.
A small flock of Black-tailed Godwits has been present since late February and both Dunlin and Ruff may be seen with luck and a good set of optics. Redshanks seem to be everywhere while Oystercatcher and Curlew occasionally draw attention to themselves with their distinctive calls and flight silhouettes. Two pairs of Shelduck may be found usually on Ashgrave or Big Otmoor.
Amorous Shoveler courtesy of Derek Latham.
Down at the southern lagoon male Pochard could be seen swimming
with their heads pressed directly forward, partially submerged in their
slightly comical looking display and we felt sorry for one female Shoveller as
she was accompanied everywhere by a group of fifteen amorous males. When she
took off all would rise immediately behind her, fly around in a tight flock
only to land a short while later completely surrounding her on the water.
Bittern can be quite difficult to see at this time of year
so it was a bonus when one was spotted gliding over the reeds on Wednesday
afternoon. Alternatively it would be difficult to imagine visiting Otmoor
without seeing Marsh Harrier and the male bird especially was in evidence on
many occasions hunting over the fields. The wintering ringtail Hen Harrier was
seen during the week and photographed well on both days over the weekend.
The wintering ringtail Hen Harrier courtesy of Badger.
Clearly we are at that point where both winter and summer
birds are present, as well as the birds already mentioned it is still possible
to find the odd Redwing and Fieldfare but spring is marching on, further heralded
by the first three Sand Martins on Tuesday, at least half a dozen Chiffchaffs
and very smart male Wheatears at Lower Farm on Saturday and Noke Sides on
Sunday. Long-tailed tit and Dunnock could both be seen collecting nesting
material and we remain in high spirits looking forward to the clocks going
forward next weekend and even more time in the field.
Saturday was grey at first
but developed into almost the perfect spring day and Sunday was wet at first
but had improved by the afternoon. As we expect at this time of year, there
were new arrivals on the moor both in the preceding week and at the weekend. We
are also now beginning to notice some significant departures.
The most obvious departure
is probably the Starlings from the roost. The latest reports suggest that it
has finally dwindled to less than a thousand birds after having enthralled huge
numbers of people during the course of the winter. The large flocks of Lapwings
also appear to have left. We still have good numbers of them present but they
are our resident breeding birds and they are really going to town now on their
tumbling noisy courtship flights.
Chiffy at the first screen (c) Bark
Redshank numbers have shot
up over the last week and their distinctive yodelling call as they pair up and
mate has become part of the Otmoor soundscape again. If you scan across Big
Otmoor now they are scattered across the whole area feeding, displaying and
walking about purposefully.
Avocet (c) Stoneshank
Wildfowl numbers are still
large both on Ashgrave, Big Otmoor and on the reedbed lagoons. There were well
over thirty Coots on the northern lagoon on Saturday morning they are extremely
bellicose at this stage of the year. Disputes seemed to break out at random
just like they do outside city centre pubs at closing time on Saturday nights.
A bird would take exception to another from quite the other side of the lagoon
and hurtle across the water to confront it with head down and wings raised. It
is hard to see why any particular individual is being picked out for attack
amongst so many, perhaps one bird just looked at the other “a bit funny” as the
drunk would say in Cornmarket on Saturday night.
There were fifteen Pochard
on the southern lagoon on Sunday morning and they were spending their time
swimming around in a group, they were either displaying to the three or four
females that were there or just showing off to each other. There were also a pair
of little Grebes courting in front of the screen, whinnying their distinctive
call and diving rapidly to pop up like corks in another part of the pool. There
was a single Great Crested Grebe out in the same part of the lagoon and it was making
its strange mournful call.
Nice weather for ducks, Little Grebe, Pochard and Tufty in the rain. (c) Bark
I counted over sixty Pintail
out on Big Otmoor on Sunday and nearly a hundred Shovellers. The Wigeon were
difficult to estimate but there does not appear to be any reduction yet in
their numbers.
The estimate of Grey Herons
building in the reedbed has gone up again and I now think that there may be as
many as five pairs. There are also two pairs nesting in the dead oak tree on
Ashgrave one of which is already sitting. It is interesting to notice that some
of them are showing the bright orange bill that they acquire for a period when
breeding.
Heron with twigs (c) JR
Bird of the weekend has to
be the Little Gull seen and photographed from the first screen on Saturday
morning. I think the last record of one on Otmoor is about fifteen years ago
when the reedbed was mostly water, that was certainly the only one that I have
seen down there. There were also records from other sites in the county on
Saturday so there was clearly a passage of them. Another good bird was the
Avocet found and photographed by Paul Greenaway during the week. Along with a
smattering of Ruff and Dunlin it was out of Big Otmoor.
Little Gull (c) Derek Latham
I yomped along the bridleway
to Noke on both Saturday and Sunday with the hope of finding our first Wheatear
of the year. The track is very muddy and reminiscent of how it was along the
whole track before the RSPB laid the path from the car park to the kissing
gate. The first Wheatear was found as we expected amongst the black sheep on
the fields adjacent to the reserve. I didn’t find it but Andy Last did, about
an hour after I was there, such is birding! It could have been his younger,
sharper eyes but I put missing it down to rain in my optics! We can expect a
steady passage of Wheatears now over the next six weeks or so.
Phonescoped Wheatear (c) Andy Last
All the regular raptors were
on show, including a close fly past on Sunday by the Hen Harrier. I can see on
my photographs the beginning of paler feathers coming through on its back and
upper wings and wonder whether it is moulting into male adult plumage. Any
suggestions or observations would be welcome.
Hen Harrier (c) Bark
We continued our walk on
Saturday past Noke and on around the southern edge of Ashgrave. I have not done
this walk since the early autumn and it is a good vantage point to look over
the Ashgrave lagoon which is at its most full. The footpath is very soggy in
places. The area at the top of the field is being allowed to scrub up and will
make an excellent extension to Julys Meadow. This will provide more potential
breeding sites for birds such as Grasshopper Warblers and hunting areas for
Short Eared Owls in winter. We heard three and saw two Nuthatches on the edge
of Sling Copse and a party of four Coal Tits in Noke Wood.
Jabba the Hutt (c) Tezzer
The Little Gull and the
Nuthatches have taken the year tally up to one hundred and six species and over
the next few weeks the list will rise even further as the fresh waves of
migrants come in. This must be the very best time of year to be out and about
birding.
