Saturday, March 19, 2011
Otmoor
Greger wasn't sure he could manage a long walk and suggested instead a visit to this wetland reserve north-east of Oxford.
He took a photo of one of several reed buntings we saw along the paths.
At the farthest hide, we were turning to go back when I took a last look through the hedge at the fields beyond. A black-and-white bird caught my eye as it came flying erratically towards the water; momentarily I thought it was a house martin but of course it was too big. It was a green sandpiper, my first of the year. It flew across the reserve and seemed to go down somewhere near the entrance where there are some new scrapes. I hoped it would be there when we walked back but there was no sign of it.Otherwise, hundreds of golden plover were the highlight of the walk. But it was nice just to be there on such a beautiful day, in bright sunshine under a wide blue sky.
Later: I see from the Oxfordshire website that fifteen pintail and fifteen dunlin were reported early this morning; either they'd gone or they were skulking somewhere. Perhaps these reports explain the number of visitors; the car park was almost full. A nice new hide has been built looking over the flooded fields; but the new scrapes near the entrance might need screening as they're quite close to the path.
// posted by Christine @ 11:00 AM 
