Otmoor Birding

Just one visit this weekend due to the appalling weather on Sunday morning. A beautiful morning on Saturday after the overnight rain departed and lots more Autumn and winter visitors arriving. All morning there were parties of Fieldfares and Redwings passing over the reserve Redwings, outnumbering Fieldfares approximately five to one. A fly by from a Peregrine flushed at least three hundred Lapwings from Greenaways and there was a flock of approximately five hundred Golden plover. Duck numbers are building slowly with only low numbers of Wigeon present but at least thirty Shoveller and several hundred Teal. There were over a hundred Skylarks on the Closes and mixed finch flocks in the hedgerows. Several pairs of Stonechat can be found at the reedbed and in the major hedges. Water levels are very low all over the reserve after one of the mildest and dryest autumns.It has meant that massive amounts of groundwork have been completed ,the hide will soon be finished and the new path has been laid. I will not be posting for a while but look forward to coming back to wet scrapes and big flocks of wildfowl.
Cheers Peter

Lapwing © Nigel Forrow