Five years to the day since I last posted! As it seems I have started a few of these posts, this is not due to not being out wildlife watching, although it has certainly got less frequent these days. Much has happened in those five years, most notably getting married and having two children. This has always been in the back of my mind though. Every summer I wonder if I will get an opportunity to look for a hobby!!
My wife is interested in my interest in birds, but not willing to sit in a hide for long! The children are not quite up to proper watching yet, although we go out and about often. The noise usually scares anything within 2 miles!!
However, today worked out well. We could never have planned it. Heading for a friend’s birthday party near Oxford we planned to go a few hours early and see the city a bit first. Leaving a bit late meant we arrived in the area with only one hour to spare; not enough time for it to be worth going into town. So I looked for local RSPB or Wildlife Trust reserves. Otmoor Nature Reserve was only ten minutes away!
Dressed in our party clothes we checked that there were good paths for the pushchair and headed off into the reserve. I noticed on the ‘Spotted..’ chart at the entrance that hobbies had been seen regularly, so started to think it might be possible.
It was quite a windy day and there had been very heavy rain earlier so it was not as busy as the website indicates it might be on weekends. As we got into the reserve, though, there was a small group of people looking at something- always a good sign. After a brief chat, it turns out they were actually looking FOR something. Turtle doves. I have never seen one before so again this possibility got me excited! There are nesting turtle doves in the area and often seen at this one point. Not today, however, probably because if the wind!
We continued. My two-year-old enjoyed chasing a brown hairstreak butterfly along the path and it was delightful to watch a whitethroat feeding three fledgelings dotted along a hedgerow. Then it was time to head back.
As we approached the spot where the turtle doves are often seen I started looking ahead. Then something caught my eye across the marshland. It was faster than the lapwings and flying lower to the ground. Then it changed direction to chase another bird! I followed with my binoculars and saw the sickle-like wings twist and turn then disappear over the hedgerow. Definitely a bird of prey, quite small but not one that I could immediately identify so not a sparrowhawk or kestrel. I was sure it was a hobby. Then it came back over the hedge, still chasing things through the air, as I have seen them do on TV. Much darker in colour than other birds and so much more acrobatic. It disappeared behind the hedge again and that was it! Quite far away, and not over water as I was expecting, but unmistakable. At last!
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As I was still looking for it, a little higher in the sky, some crows started mobbing something which turned out to be a peregrine falcon. Then a turtle dove passed right over our heads and sat in a tree close by, purring away. We met a lady who had travelled from Surrey to see them and this was a wonderful view for her.
So six years after getting to this page I can tick it off!! I hope to see another soon and be able to watch it for longer, but for an impromptu stop off with both kids, this was wonderful.
Chris' Wildlife Experiences 