Otmoor at it's best

After spending time with some of Em's family near Oxford on Saturday (30/07), Em & I took a lovely short walk in the sunshine around Otmoor during the late afternoon. Didn't see any hoped for Brown Hairstreak, however it was good hear a purring Turtle Dove and Em also picked out a Grass Snake chilling on a fence post!

The next day, Sunday (31/07), I spent much of the morning doing a bit of extra work, helping out Gareth with a newt survey, after which, I spent the afternoon over at Otmoor again. With fairly decent weather forecast, I fancied a go at looking for Brown Hairstreaks with a handful of sightings reported from the previous few days, as well as a stab at seeing the regular Bitterns being seen over the reedbeds here too.

I started along the old roman road and began my search. Within a minute a lady kindly pointed a male Brown Hairstreak she'd found nectaring high up on a bramble. I'd got very lucky it seems as a few people had been there all morning and had not seen one up until then!

Lots of other butterflies were about along here too, including second brood Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Peacock and Brimstone.

A little more of a look revealed no further hairstreak sightings and so after unexpectedly bumping into Jon & Kirsty from Northampton and catching up with them, I decided to go for a walk down to towards the rest of the reserve.

From the hide, a Hobby zipped past. Close by, I began searching for a juvenile Cuckoo that had been reported, being fed by it's pair of Reed Warbler parents. Eventually, I was treated to some very good views of the bird, occasionally seen being fed by the warblers. This is something I'd never seen before but always wanted to experience, so I was really pleased! The bird was so demanding, calling constantly and at times, could be seen chasing it's surrogate parents up into nearby oaks as they frantically searched for enough food to keep it happy! Great stuff. 

I then moved onto the 1st screen hide overlooking the reedbeds to look for Bitterns together with Jon, Kirsty & Jon's aunt. It actually didn't take long for a Bittern to appear with good flight views enjoyed, as it flew from left to right. Excellent! Also here was the surprising sight of a couple of Mandarins, a flyby Marsh Harrier and a squealing Water Rail. Some 25 minutes later another Bittern sighting occurred, this time from left to right. Possibly the same bird, though difficult to say for sure. Whether they're breeding or not is not easy to tell, but the toing and froing is certainly a good sign.

Walking back towards the car park a single Turtle Dove showed nicely as it preened in one of the oaks alongside the bridleway. Fingers crossed, there will be some evidence of this precarious population breeding too very soon.

It was now mid-afternoon and I was ready to head home having been on my feet constantly since 7am, however before I left, I joined Jon & Kirsty for one last blast for Brown Hairstreak. With the sun only occasionally peeking out from behind the clouds our chances were slim, but it was worth a go. Having enjoyed some views of presumably the same Grass Snake I'd seen the previous day, we began examining the vegetation of the Roman Road.

After a little while, my luck was in once again as I caught sight of another (or the same?) male Brown Hairstreak land on a nearby thistle. It soon moved onto some blackthorn, before disappearing, but we enjoyed some great views and I actually managed a half decent photo too! It was also pretty cool as it allowed Jon to show his Aunt her first ever Brown Hairstreak. Wicked end to the afternoon!