By the time I arrived at RSPB Otmoor it was apparent that I'd likely miss any starling exit from their roost and so my main hope was for a late view of hen harrier still quartering after the event, or for the return of the previous morning's glossy ibis. I stopped on the bridleway and watched a couple of distant species but soon moved on to first screen. On the way it was noticeable how many red kites were on the hunt and a couple of peregrines passed me - they then proceeded to interact once quite distant - nice to watch through the bins.
Arriving at first screen I watched as teal, snipe, shoveler, tufted ducks, and numbers of pochard fed in the water ahead. As the pochard got closer we could see that the leucitic pochard nicknamed "Luke" had returned for another season - I understand that he has been recorded at Otmoor since at least 2016. A cetti's warbler was calling from far to our right and eventually I saw it dive down into the reeds - I hadn't seen it perched, but the movement gave it away. Both male and female marsh harriers quartered the reed bed, joined by a handful of red kite. Kev arrived and reported his sightings from his passage to first screen - some regulars including Luke O'B, Peter (Bark), John R and Paul T all appeared. Luke mentioned he'd had the hen harrier over Big Otmoor at about 7.20am - I'd just missed it! - and he'd lost it heading over Ashgrave. He'd also seen two tawny owls as he came down Otmoor Lane, presumably one of them was the bird I'd encountered a few weeks ago.
Luke picked out a distant egret heading our way and perhaps we all hoped it would be cattle egret but it turned out to be a little egret - the much more common of the two species.
Kev and I headed for second screen and had numerous cetti's singing as we went, and I added bullfinch to my day's list. There was nothing to excite and we headed back to first screen. There was no change there and so Kev and I decided that we'd decamp and head to Dorchester-on-Thames to see if we could see the ferruginous duck that had been present through the week - I messaged Nick Truby for ideas where to park and set off.
Arriving at the site there we four birders already on the fence scanning with scopes. We joined them thinking that they’d already have the bird in their sights but they reported that it had been seen but had floated off right and out of view. We scanned the water and repositioned to see into the far-right corner of Allen's Pool. All the time we were being watched by alpacas from the fields behind.
With no success here we returned to the position we'd stopped originally and started the vigil again - a lone oystercatcher flew past from right to left. A couple of birders had arrived and stopped at the far left of the pool and within a few minutes called to say that had our bird in their sights. We joined them and watched as the bird dived just off the far bank. It was difficult to keep track of as it stayed above the surface for very short periods but Kev had his scope up and so we could easily verify this was our bird. After about 15 minutes the bird was flushed towards the centre and gave some better views but was again soon lost to our right. After a few minutes we relocated it and we had our best views and a couple of better photos - with the bird diving continuously it exhibited a 'slimy' appearance, much as a pochard does.
The wind had really picked up and so when the bird pushed backed towards the far bank we headed home. We watched for the stonechat reported earlier in the day but didn't see it and couldn't pick out any special bird from the gulls in the fields to our right.
It had been a great morning and I'd added a lifer in the ferruginous duck ,but was still a little disappointed that the ibis hadn't returned (perhaps the water levels from first screen are now too high?) and that I'd just missed the hen harrier - maybe next time.
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