Otmoor played host to an interesting array of 'exotic' species this weekend; an elegant looking glossy ibis, which seems to be enjoying its prolonged stay on the moor, a great white egret, which popped in for a couple of days and a bee-eater seen by one very lucky visitor. Bee-eaters are found during the summer months as far north as central France, but they are a rare and exciting visitor to the UK, with a few wayward/adventurous/enterprising individuals turning up here every year. They are brightly coloured birds, which feed on flying insects, including (unsurprisingly) bees, once they've caught a bee they make a very thorough job of bashing in the bees head and then squeezing out it's toxin before gobbling it up.
Despite these exciting rarities, the main birdy draw to the reserve at the moment are the gorgeous turtle doves. There are two doves purring, indicating two males and an extra two doves have been seen... so hopefully that means there are two breeding pairs. Quoting from a recent issue of Bird Watching magazine; “...some RSPB scientists predict that 2021 could see the complete loss of turtle doves from the British Isles. No bird in British history has declined so inexorably, or so quickly, towards extinction”. Scary stuff. This is why we are so relieved when the doves come back to Otmoor each year and why we are so keen to do what we can to keep them here. Although millions of doves (2-4 million!!), get shot flying over the Mediterranean each year and although the wintering grounds used by the doves in sub-Saharan West Africa are changing, it does appear that the main problem driving the decline in dove numbers in the UK is one of our own making; a lack of food. This problem isn’t as severe in the rest of Europe, where the decline in numbers is nowhere near as obvious. So our ‘clean’, weed-free, British countryside certainly isn’t benefitting these once common birds which rely on the small weed seeds.
(Otmoor turtle dove photo taken by Andrew Marshall)