This morning was a rare window of good weather so, with an inkling that birds maybe on the move before the rain hit later on, I gave the reservoir a visit before work. There were plenty of active migrants about including several Willow Warblers, Blackcap and a handful of Swifts overhead. I soon saw Mike Pollard along the western side of the reservoir. He had also had Chiffchaff and Whitethroat on his wander round as well as a couple of Sand Martin. We soon had a Lapwing fly over north, not a common bird here.
Mike then headed back to his car and I wandered towards the northern end of the reservoir to have a quick look around there before also heading off to work. A large bird then appeared soaring over the wood. An Osprey!! I quickly took a few pics before getting straight on the phone to Mike. Thankfully he got onto it! Sadly the fish at Grimsbury weren't to the Osprey's liking and it slowly gained height cruising almost due south. But wow, how exciting!
Walking back to the car park with Mike we added a Lesser Whitethroat and a big female Peregrine cruising around towards the south east over the pylons.
With the promise of more good birds, both Mike and I visited for a little while post work. There was a considerable amount of rain for quite a while initially. There was little to be found although I did see my first Spotted Flycatcher distantly in the large bit of hedge on the west side of the cattle field which was nice!
The rain relented and the evening cleared a little. Following this, Mike picked up a Greenshank flying along the western shore. I too then picked it up from the other side of the res as it began calling. Sadly it didn't stop and headed off to the north.
Meeting up with Mike, we had an impressive three Spotted Flycatcher (distant shot of one below) in the same area as before plus the sporadically-seen Ring Necked Parakeet distantly on the far side of the cattle field, impressively picked out by Mike! A rather worthwhile couple of visits today!
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