26th Apr 2026

It has been quite a busy week and with most of our spring migrants now in the year list breached 100. We hope for a few more species that are not guarantied but we see most years (e.g. we haven't had Redstart yet or Grasshopper Warbler) and maybe we'll get a few rarer species.

There has been at least one Common Sandpiper all week but on Saturday morning there was obviously a push of birds moving through, with a total of 8 recorded, and back to one in the afternoon.

Clive found our first Swift of the year on Tuesday morning and 1-2 have been seen most days but only passing through. 

On Friday JFT spent a good bit of time here over a couple of visits and was rewarded with Our first Common Tern of the year and a rather rare reservoir Green Sandpiper. He also had a late Redpoll, Little Egret, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Little Ringed Plovers through and a Yellow Wagtail. 

This morning several people were out and racked up a few good species. Our first Garden Warblers and Reed Warblers of the year. Another late Redpoll, a very brief Common Tern over, 2+ Yellow Wagtails, Swift, Skylark singing over the cattle field.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

19th Apr 2026: Osprey and Mandarin

On Monday morning Clive was lucky to witness an Osprey flying over and head off high to the north-west and on Tuesday morning had a Yellow Wagtail and a Little Egret over. 

On Wednesday morning there was apparently a mini fall of Blackcaps, with Ian seeing 12 (including 6 together in one tree) and a Lesser Whitethroat. Ian also had 90 Sand Martins on Thursday morning.

Ian and JFT were out Friday morning recording 3 Common Sandpipers, another Wheatear and a Peregrine over. 

Yesterday morning Adrian Tysoe and JFT had 6-7 Common Sandpipers at the reservoir and JFT saw a Mandarin fly over. Later in the afternoon Kev Heath got a count of 9 Common Sandpipers.

This morning was comparatively quiet, with apparently a bit of a clear out overnight. Only 1 Common Sandpiper and obviously fewer warblers around, but what was present did include 4 Whitethroats and 2 Sedge Warblers. 

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of Edwin Barson

12th Apr 2026

On Monday Adrian Tysoe found our first Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover of the year and the White Wagtail was still present. 

Ian found another Wheatear on Tuesday and Clive had a Little Egret flyover. Wednesday morning Clive found our first Sedge Wabler of the year up by the Borrow Pit pool. Thursday morning there were 4 Common Snapipers, 3 of which flew north but there was 3 again later in the day and for the rest of the week. 

On Friday there was a little arrival of migrants with JFT finding Whitethroat and Clive finding a Yellow Wagtail at the reservoir in the morning and then in the afternoon I found a Lesser Whitethroat up the valley as well as another 2 Whitethroats (and a Sedge Warbler at the reservoir). There was another Cetti's Warbler up the valley, so there's at least 3 on patch, as well as the 1 still by Lidl. 

Adrian found another Little Ringed Plover yesterday which was still present today. Generally there was nothing new today, but an obvious increase in Willow Warblers with 3 at the reservoir, 1 in the wood and 2 just into the valley before the M40.

5th Apr 2026

A steady trickle of early spring migrants again this week but nothing new for the year. 

The number of Sand Martins increased to 40-50 over the weekend, with singles Swallow and House Martin noted through the week. A Willow Warbler was present mid week and Clive confirmed that there's (at least) two Cetti's Warbler territories, with one along the river and one along the canal (there is also at least one still by Lidl).

Friday morning there was a pair of Shoveler present early on and a Bullfinch near the car park (sadly quite a noteworthy bird now). This morning there was a White Wagtail along the western shoreline.

Pics courtesy and copyright of JFT

29th Mar 2026: early spring arrivals

On the 16th Clive had c.20 Redpolls still but numbers appear to have dropped off since, he also had 6 Ravens over that day. A late-ish Fieldfare was seen by Ian on the 17th.

On the 18th our first singing Blackcap of the year, following a few sightings of wintering birds. There were 3 flyovers of Peregrine again this morning, all apparently different individuals and heading north. Ian and I had seen one earlier perched up on JDE and Clive had seen another flyover Morrisons on his way to the reservoir. 

Adrian Tysoe had our first Swallow of the year on the 21st and on the 22nd JFT found another Wheatear.

Monday 23rd another Oystercatcher was seen by Clive but this one did not stay around for long and on the 24th he had 2 Swallows.

Friday JFT found both our first House Martin and Willow Warbler of the year and there was 3 Swallows.

Courtesy and copyright of Edwin Barson

15th Mar 2026: Oystercatcher

The pair of Goldeneye stayed into this week, up until Tuesday, which is quite unusual for here. On Wednesday morning Clive found an Oystercatcher at the reservoir that also spent some time in the cattle field. Also unusually, that decided to stay around for a while and was last seen yesterday.

Friday morning Clive saw our first Sand Martins of the year, with 6 (but possibly up to 10) present in the morning and 1 lingering in the evening. Friday afternoon in the U.C.V. I found a Little Egret and a good flock of 45 Linnets in one of the fields.

This morning there was a lot of activity, with highlights of 1 Sand Martin, 2 singing Blackcaps, at least 14 Chiffchaff (inc. 12 singing birds), 21 Redpoll and a Yellowhammer. 

Courtesy and copyright of Kyle Smith

8th Mar 2026: Goldeneyes and Wheatear

There's clearly a bit of movement for spring happening now which is increasing the general interest and has provided a couple of good birds this week. 

Grenerally 4-5 Chiffchaffs have been present but I would say closer to, if not, double figures were around today. There's also clearly a more frequent turnover of Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails. The Cetti's Warbler is still present and 2 Mistle Thrushes were seen on Thursday.

A mobile (but very noisey) flock of finches is in the area feeding mostly on the Alders along the river, which today had 15-20 Redpolls, 15 Siskin and several Goldfinch.

Yesterday JFT found a pair of Goldeneye on the reservoir, which were still present today with 2 Shovelers also. 

This morning there was a very early Wheatear in the cattle field. It was distant from the reservoir and closer to the canal, feeding in the wet cattle poached area and not easy to see.

Fantastic Goldeneye pics, courtesy and copyright of JFT

1st Mar 2026

There are signs of spring being close and birds on the move already.

Two Stonechat were seen again at the reservoir on the 17th, which I assume are the same two that overwintered but were either hiding or had moved up to the valley and back.

Redpolls (and more Siskins) have moved into the area, with a few individuals sporadically and 10 seen by Clive on the 24th.

Three Peregrines were over the reservoir on 25th, seen by Clive, which were probably the local pair and a wondering bird.

On the 26th Ian had a Cetti's Warbler again at the reservoir, which is a different bird to the one further downriver in town (seen on the same day). Yesterday there was Chiffchaff singing at the reservoir and today Clive had 4, includng a singing bird.

15th Feb 2026: Curlew

The standout highlight for the last couple of weeks was Curlew seen Monday (9th) by Mark Ribbons in one of the flooded fields up the valley, along with some Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler. The flood water had receded by Friday and no ducks or waders or anything else of note were present.

Also notable on the 8th was a group of 13 Siskin that flew over the reservoir.

1st Feb 2026

It was fairly quiet this week, but the flooded fields up the valley added some wildfowl interest and a couple of year ticks.

In one of the flooded fields on Friday afternoon there were 98 Lapwing, 56 Teal, 11 Gadwall, 9 Wigeon and 3 Shoveler. On the Borrow Pit pool there was also a Pochard, which is not a common sight there. 

Also yesterday, there was a report of 3 Wigeon on the reservoir. 6 Siskin was the highlight of a brief visit this morning.

I think the year list is up to 75, but I have lost my list and need to re do it!

25th Jan 2026

There had not been much seen through the week but this morning there was a couple of new birds for the year, with 3 drake Pochard on the reservoir (amongst 17 Tufted Ducks and a Gadwall) and a Mistle Thrush at the back of the wood. There was also a Bullfinch near the entrance (quite a hard bird to get on patch now) and at least 5 Lapwings flew over. 

18th Jan 2026: Great White Egret

This week Clive added Great White Egret to the year list, with one flying over on Wednesday. There was also 2 Lapwing on the same day. 

Friday afternoon there were 22 Teal in the flooded fields up the valley and a single bird flew around the reservoir this morning. A few more common species were added to the year list but nothing else in particular.

11th Jan 2026: White-fronted Geese and Marsh Harrier!

It has been a great start to the year with some cracking species and really interesting counts recorded. 

On the 3rd JFT added White-fronted Goose to the yearlist, with 2 initially on the reservoir that flew off early and then another 4 (adults) that came in from high to the north-east and landed in the cattle field (later seen on the reservoir). Unfortunately, just one day birds. On the same day we also had a Great Black-backed Gull over and a flock of c.150 Lapwing over. The latter being part of a general movement over a few days, with several smaller flocks and a flock of c.40 Golden Plovers also seen.

This week there was some huge counts of Tufted Ducks, with 117 on the 8th and 143 (113 drakes) on 9th! I'm fairly certain these are record counts for the site. Oddly there was no other diving ducks with them and even more oddly, there was none yesterday morning.

Yesterday morning JFT had a group of 6 Crossbills go over north and this morning Clive had a cream crown Marsh Harrier come in from the west and fly off north (after getting mobbed by a Raven). 

Some other good birds already seen include Gadwall, Raven, Stonechat (2 pairs), Snipe, Jack Snipe, Peregrine and Yellowhammer.

I think the year list is already on 64, but I'll have a proper look towards the end of the month and make sure it's in line with the new Avilist taxonomic order and amended BOU list etc.  

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT (part of the 150 flock)

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

31st Dec 2025

It's the end of the year and, unfortunately, there was no late treats for us. On the 24th there was a nice selection of ducks with 8 Wigeon and 2 Gadwall present amongst the usuals, an adult Yellow-lgged Gull and the pair of Stonechats still. On the 28th a Chiffchaff was near the entrance and on the 29th there was 2 female Shovelers. 

The year list limped up to 113 which is a really poor total, the lowest for quite some time and the first time since 2017 we haven't got 120+. One really notable species we missed was Wheatear, but hopefully this is just an oddity with this year as it was a poor year generally it seemed. We seemed to have very few waders this year and didn't manage to connect with a few scarce birds like Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern, Kittiwake and Common Scoter, which are certainly not garanteed but not terribly rare.

Despite that there were some really good records, with JFT adding Pink-footed Goose to the site list, a Marsh Harrier, a couple of Little Gulls, a Cuckoo, multiple Rock Pipits, more Great White Egrets this year than ever recorded before and a few records of Crossbills.

Hopefully next year is a bit better. Happy New Year and good birding!

21st Dec 2025

Generally quiet still over the last couple of weeks. There was a pair of Peregrines over on the 14th, a Blackcap on the 19th (JFT) and a Great White Egret over this morning (CP and JFT).

Hopefully there's a few more good birds before the end of the year. Happy Christmas!