Otmoor RSPB Reserve
Saturday 10 August 2024
This evening, we went for a walk around Otmoor RSPB Reserve, a ten-minute drive from our house in Oxford. We started by seeing a flock of Long-tailed tits and a Chiffchaff at the car park. On the way to the feeders, my father and I saw a male Bullfinch, but my mum and sisters are ahead and didn't see it. The feeders didn't have much apart from the usual suspects; a young Blue tit and a grey squirrel. As we kept walking, we saw two Linnets feeding on the path and a Kestrel hovering over the wetlands. We heard a high-pitched squeak which another birder told us was a young Cuckoo, Oxfordshire #101. Near the wetlands watch hide, we heard a few Cetti's Warblers and saw about 7 Little egrets feeding in the pools. Unlike most times, we didn't stop at the Wetlands watch, since we had heard that there was a Glossy Ibis that came to roost at the 1st screen at around 2100. In the hedges towards the 1st screen, we saw a male Blackbird with a juvenile. At the screen, we saw many wildfowl including Gadwall, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck and 2 Mute Swans. In the tree we also noticed many Cattle Egrets and a couple Cormorants. On the water, we saw some Great Crested Grebes and many Coots. Soon, the person beside us had spotted an impressive 5 Hobbies in the distance, but I only saw two of them, which marked my Oxfordshire #102 and my first for the UK. Soaring over the reedbeds were two Marsh Harriers, one of them a leutistic bird with white patches on it body due to a lack of melanin. It was 20:40 so it was only a matter of time until the Glossy Ibis would fly over us from big Otmoor. While we were waiting, I noticed that the people to the left of us were Suzy and John Buttress, the hosts of the Casual Birder Podcast. I decided I would wait for the Glossy Ibis to come in, to make sure neither of us would miss it. After a few minutes of waiting, we saw the Glossy Ibis fly over our heads and do a few turns around the ponds before flying into the trees to roost, an amazing sight! Once we had enjoyed the show, we had a chat with Suzy and John and my sisters and I got badges and a keychain with the Casual Birder Podcast logo on it. Suzy will include me in her episode on the Glossy Ibis at Otmoor. If you would like to listen to her podcast, go to this website: https://casualbirder.com
Logo of the Casual Birder Podcast
Glossy Ibis
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