My first Otmoor Redstart of the year was showing well along the path to the 1st screen. A beautiful male, doing it's characteristic flying down from a bush to the ground, catching an insect then flying back to the bush seconds later. Unfortunately a seemingly continuous procession of people walking back and forth along the track led to the bird becoming more and more nervous as time went by. Each time it was disturbed it would take longer to appear again. I stayed as far away as possible so as not to disturb it and got this one distant record shot.
Walking back towards the car park Joe and Zoe were by the cattle pens and kindly pointed out a Hobby perched on a post on Greenaways. (Too far away to photograph unfortunately). Again a new year tick for me.
Along the same path as the Redstart four Lesser Whitethroats were present and several Sedge Warblers were singing and performing display flights.
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Lesser Whitethroat.
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Lesser Whitethroat.
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Singing Sedge Warbler.
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Sedge Warbler flight display.
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Three Green Woodpeckers and four multi coloured Jays put in an appearance today. The first Green woodpecker gave a heart stopping moment as i first spied it flying away from me at some distance. With the sun on it's back it looked bright yellow. The words Golden Oriole flashed into my head, before reality set in a millisecond later.
Several Buzzards, Red Kites and a Sparrowhawk joined the Hobby on the birds of prey list for today.
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Jay in flight.
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Peacock Butterflies still the most common of the lepidopterans. An Orange tip Butterfly was a new year tick today. Brimstones and Tortoiseshells also seen.
Other photos from today..
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Male Reed Bunting.
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Buzzard
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Red Kite.
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Peacock Butterfly.
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