The Cranford Birders consist of myself, Sue, Tony and his wife Audrey. We are a small select group because Cranford Park is a small select place. However, Tony and Audrey's 'second' patch is RSPB Otmoor. I've never been there and Sue's only been there for a very brief visit, so after a bit of short notice organising a couple of days ago, all four of us left Hayes at 7am this morning for the M4/M25/M40 trip to Otmoor.
Those that know me well know that I have a 'bogey' bird. It doesn't matter that this bird is regularly seen on another of my patches, or seen regularly by the other Cranford Birders at their nearby patches or seen regularly at other sites I have visited, nor that I briefly saw one in my Mum's back garden and it was too near for my 75-300mm zoom lens to focus on. I have only seen them thrice in my whole life, and only got a couple of dodgy photos to prove it. It's my 'bogey' bird, and it's now in my vocabulary of swear words. In fact I'm going to change it's name. It's no longer a Bullfinch, it's now a Bullshitfinch.
We'd only just got of the cars when the first BSF flew over, followed by a second. Could I get a photo of either of them ? Could I duck !! Later on in the morning another stunning male BSF flew into some scrub right next to me. By the time I'd lifted my camera, it had flown further down. By the time I'd walked down to there, the little bugger had gone.
But anyway, back to Otmoor. It is a lovely little gem of a nature reserve on the outskirts of Islip, tucked away in the Oxfordshire countryside. There are no facilities, no RSPB shop, café or toilets. It's just a truely wild place. The paths are well managed and the one hide and two viewing stations are well maintained, but it's the wildness of the place that attracts birders from miles away. There is no bus that serves the area but it is accessible by train if you don't mind walking from Islip train station. Luckily for me today, I was Eagle-Eye-Sue's car passenger...
The first part of the walk was on high ground so very exposed, and this mornings weather certainly tested our hardiness as a cold biting wind cut through. Luckily with a forewarning from Tony, we had come prepared and with snoods, scarves, layers, hoods, heavy coats, gloves and welly boots (or in my case, snow boots) we trotted along. Well those three trotted, I sort of 'tromped' in my new clumsy snow boots, but I managed to keep up.
The bird most regularly seen today, both on the motorways and at the reserve, was the Red Kite. A Chilterns re-introductory program success. More about that big lovely later. Other birds seen along that exposed Otmoor stretch included Shovelers, Wigeons, Teals, distant views of Lapwings and Golden Plover and of course, Mallards.
At the only fully enclosed hide, we thankfully sat down to shelter from the wind and got some lovely views of three of my favourite little birds......
Goldfinch...
Lots of Reed Buntings...
and approx 100 Linnets...though only approx 30 in my photo below...
I have never seen so many Linnets in one place. One of the regular Otmoor crew told us there was near on 200 of these beautiful little birds yesterday. There was probably the same amount today, but although we had great views of some of them on the path outside the hide, there was another large flock feeding way out in the marshes.
Elsewhere on the site, we had a huge skein of Canada Geese go over at one point. I didn't get any really decent photos, but I quite like the one I captured below. Incredibly this wasn't early evening, this was mid-morning. The skies to our right had just started clouding over, but the skies to our left were blue...
When I was quizzing Tony and Audrey about mammals at Otmoor, they mentioned Hares amongst others. I love Hares. I've not seen one for about three years, so when Eagle-Eye-Sue stopped and called me, I was beside her in a shot. Yup, she had spotted a Hare. It was hunkered down and not very close, but I managed to get a couple of half decent pics...
From one of the viewing points we watched a Red Kite coming in lower and lower. We had better sightings than the photo I've posted below, but I like the way this shows how low down it was flying above the reeds. As mentioned earlier, this was the bird we saw the most, both on our journey to and from Otmoor and at the site itself.
Kites aren't generally known for being a predator, they don't often take live prey and usually feed on naturally dead mammals or road kill, but I've seen one take an injured feral pigeon and Tony has seen one take a Lapwing chick, so maybe their introduction and rapid success is meaning they are having to find other ways to secure food now there are so many in a concentrated area...
We also spotted another Red Kite that landed in a distant large oak tree. It was only viewable through bins, but it did look as if it was eating and stayed in the tree for some time. Obviously at that distance, none of my photos are clear, but I have thoughtfully marked out the perched bird in my photo below...
Ha ha ha...
On our way past the feeders early this morning, there wasn't a lot of activity, but on our trip back we found the feeders incredibly busy....
A flock of Long-tailed Tits visited whilst we watched....
Then Eagle-Eye-Sue spotted a Marsh Tit....
We waited around to see if it would come back, and it did, but I couldn't get an aesthetically pleasing photo, so you'll have to make do with the one above.
There was also a Coal Tit, Greenfinches, Robins, Chaffinches and the other two common Tits, but by this time we were all really feeling the cold wind and didn't hang around as long as we could have.
Other visitors to the feeders included a male Pheasant and three of his harem.
Pheasants may be as common as muck around these parts, but I'm an urban birder and you don't get many of these on my patches....
Of course there were plenty of Robins around too...
and as we made our way back along the exposed walkway that had so bitingly chilled us on the walk over this morning, our Eagle-Eye-Sue got her third find, a well hidden Common Snipe....
Again, I've been helpful and circled it for you. Ha ha ha. Yes, that is a Snipe. I was there. I saw it with my bins.
So we eventually got back to the car park, and all four of us scanned around for my bogey BSF, but to no avail. The little sods are now officially on my '2015 Hit List'. I will get a decent Bullshitfinch photo this year !
But all in all, it was a great morning. I will definitely be going back for another visit very soon. My warm snug new snow boots kept me toasty, albeit clumsy, and it was good to compare them against my three fellow stalwarts in their welly boots. Waiting around = tick for me, but cold toes for my companions.
And on the way out I saw my first snowdrops of the season....
Great day, great company and a new reserve to add to my 'favourites'.
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