My wife and I had been out for an early Sunday lunch with good friends, arriving home mid-afternoon. We'd only just sat down with a cup of coffee when I received a WhatsApp message from Kevin Heath to say that he was on his way down to RSPB Otmoor and that he'd stop off and pick me up if I was free - our other friend Adrian Sparrowhawk was apparently already there. We hadn't got anything planned and so I jumped at the chance - a couple of short-eared owls had been seen the previous day, and conditions were favourable with only the lightest of a breeze. Within 15 minutes I was in his car and heading for the reserve.
The car park was busy but not full and it didn't take us long to park up and get on our way down to the bridleway. We stopped to scan The Closes seeing mostly lapwing and greylag geese - a kestrel flew along the side of the leftmost hedge and then dropped onto a fence - too far for a photo in any case. We pushed on.
We got to the bridleway and planned to make for the area around the bench, expecting Adrian to be there already. We stopped in front of the cattle pens to see if we could see anything from there - just a marsh harrier flypast, and at distance. We pushed on and Kev sent Adrian a message to say we were on the bridleway, and he replied to say that a short-eared owl was showing on Greenaways but about halfway between the bench and the gate to First Screen. We scanned in that direction, and I picked out the bird near the far hedge - I took a couple of photos for the record but hoped it would hunt there for a while yet and I'd be afforded an upgrade ...
We reached a stretch where a number of birders were already in position finding Adrian at the far end - Kev set up his scope and we watched as the shorty continued to hunt, at least for a couple of minutes - then it dropped from view behind the reeds.
It was around ten minutes before it showed again by which time a couple of barn owls had started hunting at the very back of Greenaways - we could watch them but, given the light and distance, not even I attempted to take any photos. The shorty eventually took to the wing and made a quick circuit and once again dropped into the grass, but this time in view. It could be seen through the scope, and I attempted a couple of record shots.
Luke O'Byrne appeared - he was the guy who had posted some photos from distance the evening before. The bird stayed put for a considerable time during which Adrian made his exit as he had to help a friend move some motorbikes. To our left and high in the sky another shorty was to be seen cruising with one, but occasionally a handful, of crows. I was tempted to go and see where it landed as it went out of view but I had a bird already in front of me and so I stayed put.
Michael Enticott appeared, summoned by messages to let him and Bryan Manston know the owls were showing - Bryan had suggested Michael go ahead and he'd catch up, which he did a few minutes later. The Greenaways bird decided to fly and perch on a wooden structure on the far hedge line - we all hoped to see the bird come back our way but when it did fly it dropped back into the grass and out of view. We wouldn’t be able to upgrade our photos. While we waited and the others departed one by one, we were entertained by multiple kestrels hunting over the reserve. A flock of golden plovers also passed at distance. Over Big Otmoor the other shorty was still cruising with random crows.
With the light almost gone we decided to pack up having enjoyed the great views we were given by the owls. There was a significant gathering of starlings and expect that this will be growing in coming weeks and likely to start attracting raptors - hopefully at some point we will get views of hen harrier - fingers crossed.
Year List: 220
BirdTrack Record: https://app.bto.org/birdtrack/pubcon/shared?subId=SUB46070130
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