I thought I'd take a trip to Fowlmere despite the menacing looking skies last night, good decision in the end, the storm passed just as I arrived leaving some unusual light conditions and this rainbow!
As for the wildlife, the usual suspects were on the water in front of the reedbed hide, teal, mallard, mute swan, moorhen, dabchick and a water rail dipping in and out of the margins. The elusive oddity i refer is the water rail with the plumage abnormality which i've seen once before, it came out again last night in the same place, on the far side of the water along the margin of reeds, seen from the hide. Light was fading and my camera skills are limited so the best effort I could make was this sorry image!
Shockingly bad I know but you can just make out the red bill and white and mottled plumage! Interesting bird. Challlenge for any of you with decent photography skills to get a clear image of this bird! Both times i've seen it emerge have been just after sunset, which last night was pretty impressive!
I could hear the barn owl chicks and caught a glimpse of an adult visiting the box in failing light before heading home, loads of bat activity around the reserve, didn't have my detector with me so can only guess at pips and possibly noctules on size. A flock of around 60 greylags came in to roost well after sunset and a tawny owl was screeching from the trees in the car park as I left! Not bad for an hour or so after work!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Hi Ian
I saw this bird myself. Myself and another birder are almost certain it's a Water rail with a white head. I tried to get a shot of it myself, bur it was too far away to get anything decent. Perhaps I will be lucky on my next trip!
Regards
Steve
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Regular observers at Fowlmere have noted a Water Rail with strange plumage, so (admittedly without having seen the bird myself), I would guess the bird in your pic is a Water Rail.
We saw this bird today in what appears to be the same place as before. It is definitely a Water Rail, and has white head and back, but normal red beak, and the rest of the plumage looks normal.
Ian H said:The elusive oddity i refer is the water rail with the plumage abnormality which i've seen once before
Hi Chaps, glad to hear that you have also seen the water rail and it wasn't a figment of my imagination!!!