Otmoor RSPB

Today we visited Oxfordshire and the RSPB Reserve of Otmoor.

Weather conditions at the start of the day wonderful sunshine.

A walk to the first hide produced Coal tit, Great spotted woodpecker and a Green woodpecker flew from the tree tops ahead of us. Plenty of Fieldfare were sat in the trees and a few Redwing flew over.

Heading out towards big Otmoor we saw several large groups of Lapwing and Golden plover, as we watched them we saw all the Lapwing and plovers take to the air and soon found out why as a fantastic male Hen harrier heading towards them, we watched the bird move through them as it heading away out over the surrounding countryside.  A magical sight to see on this lovely winters morning.

At the hide around 200 small birds were feeding on the grain that is being put out for the birds over the winter months these included 30 Reed buntings, 130 Linnets, 10 Goldfich, 25 Chaffinch, 1 Yellowhammer along with 3 Bullfinch 2 Greenfinch and a Water rail all feeding on the ground great to see so many birds taking advantage of the food.

Moving off to the first screen we had close views of Teal, Wigeon, Pochard and Tufted duck out on the water along with several Moorhen.

Here we had our first view of Marsh harrier along with a single Kestrel sat on the telephone wires with several Red kites drifting around.

With dark clouds looming we decided to stay in the hide which turned out to be a good  move as heavy snow showers moved in and we had a complete white out, what a change from the early morning sunshine!!

Out side the hide a Muntjack deer gave a close view as it walk right passed the window.

On our way back to the car park we saw a group of 20 Fieldfare feeding on the ground just in front of us taking advantage of the wet conditions.

Both Peregrine and Buzzard were seen briefly out over the reserve.

Another good day out in the field with some wonderful birds seen in some interesting weather conditions.DT