Otmoor

I planned to head to the Otmoor RSPB reserve last Sunday (17/06). There had been a male Corncrake calling there as well as a chance of Quail and a very good chance of Turtle Dove, a bird I was especially keen to see.


The weather was bloody gorgeous. I arrived around 11:45 and set off round the reserve for the afternoon. There were around 4 Hobbies hawking dragonflies over the 'Greenways' field first of all. Along the path to the screen hides a Grasshopper Warbler was reeling around lunchtime on and off. The screen hides area didn't produce anything much other than a horsefly drawing blood on my left hand! Little f**ker!


There was absolutely no sign of the Corncrake. It hadn't been heard the previous day in windy conditions and no one had had it today. It may well have still been there but there was no way of seeing it if it was as the 'Greenways' field was verrrry big with pretty long grass...no chance!
Otmoor is good for breeding waders and walking around there were several Redshank and Lapwing around. 5 Curlew also flew in calling loudly. A further 2 could be seen in the wet field from the hide along with a single Shoveler, 3 Little Egret and a feeding Roe Deer.


There were good numbers of Buzzard and Red Kite in the area. 2 particular Kites floating close to the hide for most of the day, having to deal with constant attacks from the local corvids and Lapwings. There was still however no sign of an any Turtle Dove, however 2 birds quickly flew over my head and over a hedge before I could get optics on them. They looked like a good shout for Turtle Dove but I wasn't quick enough. Argh!


I saw a Cuckoo briefly near to the car park. I then went for a wander towards the western side of the reserve. More breeding Lapwing and Redshank were around with several Lapwing chicks out in the open, some distance from their parents. Low and behold it wasn't long before out of nowhere came a Kestrel swooping down and taking a chick back to the nearby hedgerow. Despite the Lapwings going mental at the Kestrel, it didn't deter it one bit.


It was very much near the end of the day and I was getting twitchy about Turtle Dove. I found 3 of the Hobbies all perched on posts in the 'Greenways' field. Distantly over the same field I watched a couple of Snipe drumming and displaying up in the sky, however they were too far away to hear them. Soon after, a guy I'd been speaking to earlier in the day waved me over from further along the path. Was chuffed as hell to find he'd got a Turtle Dove on the deck with a Woodpigeon. We had great views of the bird for a good 10-15 mins before it flew off north. Thank god for that! Really enjoyed having a good look at the Turtle Dove, it was the first one I'd seen since 2010!