RSPB Otmoor : 29th June 2015

RSPB Otmoor : 29th June 2015

As we left the Fat Fox in Watlington to return to Manchester we stopped off at RSPB Otmoor with the hope that we might be able to see the Turtle Doves that breed there – one of the few places where you are in with a good chance of seeing this increasingly rare bird. As it happens, we did not manage to see them or even hear them as most other people we ran into that morning had but that didn’t stop us having a fantastic sighting and another sighting that was a life tick.

It is quite a long drive down Otmoor Lane but eventually you reach a reasonably large car park. We parked up and walked down to the are where we hoped we could find Turtle Doves. Apparently there is one territory that includes the car park itself (and sometimes the birds can be seen here) and another which is down at the end of the path just by the bird feeders. Often they can be seen on the telegraph wires overhead here or in the field straight ahead where food is sometimes put down for the (just behind the gate). There is also the chance of seeing them on the feeders. Well, try as we could, we did not even manage to hear them so we decided to walk on and try again later.

We walked down to the hide that overlooks the pond and scrape (Ashgrave I think) and in that hide we saw a few birds including what was probably a juvenile Kestrel. Apart from that there was nothing special so we decided to walk back to the feeders and look for the Turtle Doves some more. As we walked down the path Anne spotted something inside the bushes. A closer examination gave us bot the very best and closest view we had ever had of a Cuckoo. This was a juvenile and it spent some time preening on a branch so I had time to get the scope set up and even do a bit of phonescoping. Amazingly, as I was filming one section the Cuckoo became very excited and the reason soon became clear – it was being fed by a Reed Warbler and I managed to get a couple of video clips of her doing just that. We stood for a very long time soaking up the experience and pointing out the bird to passers by, some of whom had never seen a Cuckoo before. Indeed I had only seen a Cuckoo once before (at Lakenheath Fen) and that was distant and flying away from me. All the other sightings I had had had actually been “heard” rather than “seens”  so I was made up and this was surely the sighting of the whole holiday.

The bird flew off but we relocated it a few yards away but eventually it flew from there and we lost it. We had hoped our luck had changed but it hadn’t for the Turtle Doves; I did, however, manage to see both Common and Lesser Whitethroats, the latter a life tick !

We also saw a couple of Hobbies over the fields and also Marsh Harrier. Whilst watching the feeder we got Great Spotted Woodpecker and in and around the reeds there were Reed and Sedge Warbler, Dunnock, Reed Bunting etc. and in the skies Swifts dashed about.

Eventually we had to just accept that this was not our turn to see turtle Doves; perhaps it will be a case of third time lucks. Be that as it may we had a fantastic morning and a Cuckoo experience not to be forgotten; made special by being able to point the bird out to others as they passed by ! As for birds in general the list below shows the variety we encountered. This is again another site to visit and one we barely scratched the surface of.

Bird Sightings : RSPB Otmoor