It was a bit grey and chilly on the 27th of April when ten of us met with volunteers Sylfest Muldal and his colleague Mike for a three hour, highly enjoyable walk at the RSPB Otmoor reserve.
You will see from the species list (here) that it was a productive morning, with wonderful sightings of a huge variety of birds.
Perhaps the highlight of the visit was seeing two hobbies perching on fence posts, waiting for the weather to warm up before hunting and then later watching one of them set off overhead.
It was really helpful to have expert birders to identify bird calls. A Water Rail gave a good rendition of a stuck pig and warblers were heard in abundance, particularly Sedge and Reed Warblers, each of which gave a brilliant and elongated display of song so that we could really learn to differentiate between the two. ‘Rhythmic Reed’ and ‘Scratchy Sedge’!
A further hint on how to identify the the Lesser Whitethroat is that its song sounds like an engine turning. It does!
As the weather warmed up, we spotted several Common Lizards climbing over fallen branches on a South-facing bank. They were tiny and almost certainly juveniles. Later a Grass Snake was seen near to the water beside the path.
Sylfest showed us a female St Marks Fly, full of eggs. A good meal for a Chiffchaff, apparently!
As we headed back, the sky darkened and the first spots of rain began to fall just as we were getting into our cars. Heavy rain then set in for the rest of the day, so were were incredibly lucky to be able to enjoy a great morning’s bird watching before the downpour.
Julia Reid 30 April 2023
The full species list can be found here.
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