Early Otmoor

As I always seem to wake up at 5am each morning at the moment, I thought I would not waste any time trying to fall back to sleep and got up instead and made my way over to Otmoor.  My main reason for driving down to Oxfordshire was to try and see two elusive species for me, Grasshopper Warbler and Turtle Dove.

Fortunately, as I made my way down the M40 the weather improved from sheets of rain to just overcast and by the time I pulled into the carpark at Otmoor the birds had got over the shock of the downpour as the place was awash with song.

First birds of the day were 3-4 Skylarks and a Snipe drumming in the distance.  The main path from the car park was alive with warblers including Chiff Chaff, Willow Warbler, Garden Warblers and Blackcaps and the electricy wires had a nice flock of pristine Linnets.

The field near the carpark had at least two Grasshopper Warblers reeling but after a 45 minutes search I just could not locate any.  As I was waiting, I heard the purring sound of a Turtle Dove and I eventually managed to locate it sitting on a dead branch just behind the entrance.

I decided to give up on the Groppers for a while and wandered up the path towards the hide, the walk provided me with great views of male and female Cuckoos, Red Legged Partridges and many Sedge Warblers singing their hearts out, including this very obliging chap who posed for me nicely (digiscoped with my phone - as I had forgotten my camera...again).

The hide itself did not provide any new birds for the day, so I decided to amble back to the car, stopping for another fruitless half an hour trying to track the Groppers.  Hey, at least I managed to catch up with some Turtle Doves, they really are just fantastic and beautiful birds.