Otter-mor! 2nd January 2023

Kick-starting a New Year in Oxfordshire has to involve a visit to the RSPB reserve at Otmoor. Even if you are definitely not Year Listing this time around! Of course I will be counting the birds that I see in 2023 but I flatly refuse to allow myself and Mrs Caley to go through the stress of trying to attain the Big Year target of three hundred species after the previous year's effort. This time we will just accumulate the birds as they come along. However, Otmoor does provide the opportunity to add quite a few birds to one's list and it's always worth a walk around out on the Moor. Recently there had been multiple sightings of Otters from the first screen and even though I'm not as excited by mustelids as I am by birds, it would be good to see them for ourselves.

Otmoor, both because of its proximity to home and also for the variety of wildlife that can be found there, has long been a mainstay of our birding. During Lockdown, Otmoor kept us going when we couldn't travel out of the county to other places. Although we didn't go there so much last year it was still our go-to-place in the spring for recently arrived summering birds. The visitor experience of Otmoor has changed in recent years though. More people were attracted to the reserve during the pandemic, the wide open spaces offered respite from the imposed confinement, and many of those folk are continuing to visit. Hence the reserve isn't quite the tranquil oasis it used to be, but it's a vast place and there is room for everyone. Except at the viewing screens that is, and particularly the first one where a gaggle of photographers always seem to be in residence, taking up the space while waiting patiently for a Bittern or a Kingfisher or the Otters to appear. The superb photos posted on local social media groups have enticed even more folk eager to see the special creatures for themselves. And of course there is the well known daily Starling murmuration which has created such interest amongst the public that a visit to the Moor in late afternoon or early evening is a trial in itself with too many cars to fit into the small parking area. But it's a bit like complaining about traffic, I'm as much a part of the problem as everybody else is so there's no way I can blame anyone else more than I can blame myself.

I wanted to see the Otters despite my feigned disinterest, it had taken me over a month to raise the enthusiasm for an early start which was necessary according to the resident togger reports. It was barely getting light as we gained our first big surprise of the morning. As we drove up the hill just before the turn into Beckley, a bird appeared in the headlight beam of the car. It was stood square in the road causing me to hit the brakes to avoid wiping it out. Luckily it wasn't an icy morning and I brought the car to a standstill just a few metres from the bird. Looking back at us was a Woodcock! It remained in the road for a few seconds before flying off into the nearby trees. To see a Woodcock in that fashion was a great surprise and a big bonus bird to get so early in the year.

We arrived at the carpark just after seven and were staggered to find seven other cars already parked up. I said that Otmoor was popular these days. We wanted to see the spectacular sight of the entire roost of Starlings leaving for their days feeding in the villages, towns and fields of the surrounding area. The estimated fifty-thousand birds leave en masse and create quite a picture as they fly past. Because of the Woodcock we were later than originally planned so we wouldn't get to the screen for the birds departure and that proved to be true as we reached the bridleway. The birds streamed over our heads just seconds later, all headed eastwards presumably towards the sun which was rising in the clear sky. It took a good few seconds for the whole flock to have passed over and while they did the sky was filled with black dots and the sound of thousands of whirring wing beats.

A sky full of Starlings

We continued on to the first screen and joined half a dozen familiar faces, the same ones that are always there these days, looking out onto the slightly misty covered water. There was little of interest on the lagoon itself, just a few Ducks and a pair of Mute Swans floated idly there. The weedy edge of the lagoon held some Common Snipe and a handful of Lapwing, and a Grey Heron stood hunched up in the shallows.

Lapwing

We stood silently for almost half an hour before a Kingfisher appeared, quite close to the screen but obscured by reeds. I noticed that the excitement level rose a notch or two amongst the toggers. Apparently, so I'd read on social media, the Kingfishers here followed the Otters around in the hope of a by-catch. The Otters would disturb smaller fish while hunting for bigger fry. A minute or so later an Otter appeared, and it was really close too, right in front of the screen. In fact, there were two, we could see them through the reeds just twenty feet away. I fired off a few shots but only captured a blurry head behind some sharper reeds. I tutted silently but then tried to cheer up by reminding myself that I'd only had my camera for less than a week. The Otters swam past the screen so close almost that you could touch have touched them, except they were submerged and the only sign that they did swim past was the trails of bubbles left behind. One of the Otters, the largest and presumably the mother of the other, emerged on the opposite side of the nearest bay. Half a dozen cameras whirred into action, mine too although being mirrorless there was no noise from it. I was delighted to see the Otter so close, the first good view of one we'd had since watching a young cub in an ornamental pond in a park in Elgin a few years back. However, my glee soon turned to annoyance when I reviewed the images and noticed that they were all horribly over exposed. For some reason my camera had jumped the exposure stops up by two without me asking it to. Oh well, at least overblown photos have some artistic merit, albeit a little bit.

Otter

Of course, as soon as I had corrected the camera error and reverted it back to normal exposure settings the Otters disappeared into the reedbeds. When they reappeared again they were distant right over the far side of the lagoon. I had blown a gilt edged chance to grab some great photos of the stars of Otmoor. Oh well, onwards and upwards, new cameras need learning. It was a pretty basic mistake to make though but in the heat of the moment checking the settings is always forgotten.

The Kingfisher, a female as depicted by the red base to its bill, at least stayed faithful to the reeds closest to the screen and allowed some photography. If the Kingfisher was following the Otters around then they must have stayed deep within the reeds because they was no outward signs of any further presence of them.

Kingfisher

I tried a bit of aerial photography on a few birds. Greylag Geese, a Grey Heron and a female Marsh Harrier all providing worthy practice. My results weren't great though but I guess my skills will improve with more time spent using the camera. I was struggling with focusing on the moving subjects but maybe I hadn't discovered the right settings yet.

Grey Heron

Marsh Harrier

We left the screen and the attendant photographers and spent a few moments in the Wetlands Hide. We enjoyed a New Year's social with our regular Otmoor mates and left them promising to spend more time on the Moor this year. From the hide we watched the finch and bunting flocks which are attracted to the supplementary food provided. No Bramblings on offer here either after drawing a blank at Balscote on New Year's Day. The other more common species were well represented though.

Reed Bunting

Along the bridleway we witnessed a Peregrine Falcon stooping onto Greenaways and pursuing some ducks that scattered every which way they could. I was far too slow to pick up the camera but was happy to watch the mastery of the falcon anyway.

As we passed the carpark feeding station we were amazed to see a bold-as-brass Muntjac Deer pigging out on the spilt seed below the feeders. No matter how many folk stopped and stared at the deer, it just stood there and ate. Unlike most of its kind that was not a shy animal at all!

Muntjac Deer

Otmoor always offers something good. Today was our best ever Otter day on the Moor, to be fair I'd only seen one there before, so it didn't have much to be beat. We'd tallied up over sixty species of birds too, of which almost half were new for the year. Next time out on the Moor I wonder if it will be Otter-more or maybe a Bit(tern)-moor!

Year List additions;

33) Woodcock, 34) Raven, 35) Teal, 36) Wigeon, 37) Tufted Duck, 38) Lapwing, 39) Golden Plover, 40) Common Snipe, 41) Moorhen, 42) Water Rail, 43) Cetti's Warbler, 44) Bullfinch, 45) Stonechat, 46) Skylark, 47) Grey Heron, 48) Marsh Harrier, 49) Linnet, 50) Reed Bunting, 51) Kingfisher, 52) Peregrine Falcon, 53) Greylag Goose, 54) Canada Goose, 55) Shoveler, 56) Jackdaw, 57) Lesser Black-backed Gull, 58) Pheasant, 59) Mute Swan, 60) Sparrowhawk