16th August 2026: Yellow-legged Gull

Friday morning Clive had a couple of Common Terns for a short while when he arrived but the soon departed. 

Yesterday there were at least 3 Clouded Yellows up the valley around the Borrow Pit pool and there are good numbers of Migrant Hawkers now. We've still only seen a few Willow Emeralds and a few Southern Hawkers, but unless we get something unusual that is all the usual odonata seen. 

This morning a Yellow-legged Gull was (surprisingly late in the year) a new one for the year list. There has been at a Common Sandpiper around and quite a few Yellow Wagtails passing through, with at least 4 this morning at one time this morning but several others over in ones or twos too. 

9th Aug 2026: Spotted Flycatcher

The last couple of weeks has been fairly quiet again but there has been a noticeable increase in activity and migration. Mostly this has been an increase of Chiffchaff, that seem to be in good numbers anywhere you look, and a more regular and larger numbers of hirundines again. The roving parties of tits and warblers etc. has included a couple of Willow Warblers (one singing), Garden Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats. 

Yellow Wagtails have started being seen in small number and there has been a few Common Sandpipers. There has also been a large increase in gulls but nothing unusual amongst them yet. 

From Friday late afternoon there has been at least one Redstart around but it's quit elusive, and there was possibly two yesterday. Also yesterday I saw our first Spotted Flycatcher of the year.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

26th Jul 2026: Redstart

A Common Redstart was seen on Friday by Clive Payne, which is new for the year. He only saw it briefly twice before it moved into the hedge not to be seen again. 

Otherwise still quite quiet in the summer doldrums.

12th Jul 2026

Another quiet couple of weeks. There has been the occasional Little Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper passing through. At least one Kingfisher is back and being seen or heard regularly again and the numbers of gulls is building back up post nesting.

28th Jun 2026

Summer has arrived and we've had some sweltering conditions during a heat wave. The birding has generally been, as it is expected to be, quite quiet. However, there are some summer movements of post breeding birds already. There are the inverts to keep us entertained too.

On the 16th I had a walk around the UCV part of the patch and had 7 singing Reed Warblers. It wasn't that long ago we had the first regular territorial males and now there are easily double figures. This year seems especially good, with many singing from new locations/territories.

On the 21st I had a Siskin over the reservoir and a returning Common Sandpiper and yesterday there was a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Common Sandpipers.

14th Jun 2026: Egyptian Geese

On Friday Clive had 2 Egyptian Geese on the reservoir that are new for the year. Otherwise no other notable bird news. 

I've been keeping an eye out for orchids again and have now seen some of the unidentified Marsh species (or possibly MarshxCommon Spotted hybrids), quite a lot of Common Spotted and a couple of Pyramidal. No sign of any Bee Orchids again this year but no thorough search for them either, so hopefully there are some unseen in a quiet corner.

7th Jun 2026

It's been a fairly quiet couple of weeks really. The only notable bird sightings have been a probable Cattle Egret seen flying over on 25th and an Oystercatcher seen on the 30th, both by John Beak.

There has been a fair few Painted Lady butterflies around and more odonata. 

24th May 2026

The last couple of weeks have been generally quiet really, with only a Little Ringed Plover on the 11th and a Common Tern and Common Sandpiper on the 13th the highlights last week. This week, on the 19th, a tern initially thought to be Arctic was re-identified as Common from photos was the highlight.

Otherwise there was a Mistle Thrush and Bullfinch yesterday, both fairly notable for here. Potentially some warblers still arriving with several Reed Warblers this week including in some new locations, Garden Warbler in new locations and an apparently new in Willow Warbler today. There's a lot of juvenile Robins, Blue Tits, Wagtails etc. appearing as well now.

There's been a couple of Grass Snake sightings and attention really turned to inverts this weekend with a lot of odonata emerging and butterfly activity.

Courtesy and copyright of Kyle Smith

10th May 2026: Whinchats

This week started with another new bird for the year, with Clive finding 2 Whinchats along the ditch in the cattle field. There was also a Dunlin that decided to hang around for a while. There was at least one Common Sandpiper up to Wednesday, with 2 seen on Tuesday but none seen today (or later than Weds as far as I know). On Wednesday there was also a Yellow Wagtail over and today a rather late/unseasonal Lesser Redpoll over.

More odonata seen up the valley yesterday in the sun with an emergence of Beautiful Demoiselles and several Azure and Common Blue Damselflies.

3rd May 2026: Whimbrel and Dunlin

New birds this week were Whimbrel seen flying over by Ian on Monday and 3 Dunlin seen by JFT flying through today. 

Otherwise there's been a Snipe seen on Tuesday by Ian, a/the regular Common Sandpiper all week with 2 seen today, a couple of Yellow Wagtails today and an increase in later migrants with 4 Garden Warblers today.

The first odonata of the year were also recorded this week, with Hairy Dragonfly and Large Red Damselfly seen up the valley here.

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