29th Sep 2025: Dunlin and Crossbills

Generally there was very little of note all week but the Marsh Tit was seen again on Friday. 

Today, things really changed with a few good patch birds making it a really nice morning in what has been a generally really poor autumn so far. Clive and John B found 2 Dunlin and a Snipe along the western shore, all of which flushed but the Dunlin reappeared and despite further flushes apparently stayed all day. The Dunlin were the first of the year and Snipe are very rarely seen on the deck here.

As we were stood chatting at the northern end 3 Common Crossbills flew in calling and appeared to land in the wood. Shortly after a single bird flew west. I searched the wood for them but there was no sign of them. These were the first crossbills recorded here since 2020.

On my way out I stopped to get a better look at the Dunlin and a Rock Pipit flew along the west shore and landed south of me. It was flighty and flushed every time people/dogs walked by, even going into the cattle field briefly, and the last I saw of it it flew to the eastern bank.

21st Sep 2025

This week really felt like autumn and there was a little variation of birds recorded.

There has been a Common Sandpiper around on most days still and a couple of Ravens have been present on a few days. On Tuesday there was 1(+) Mistle Thrush I heard flying over the wood, Ian picked out a Garden Warbler in the scrub on the western side and JFT saw a Common Tern in the evening.

The Marsh Tit was still around, seen on Wednesday and today, and there have been a few more Siskins, with half a dozen in the wood today.

14th Sep 2025: Marsh Tit

The main news from the last couple of weeks is the presence of a Marsh Tit in the wood with the roving flock, seen last Sunday and today and the first record since 2021. Clive and I had both thought we'd heard one over the previous few of weeks but couldn't be sure.

Four Gadwall on the 5th coincided with a noticeable local influx. A Skylark and 11 Meadow Pipits over south on the 6th were the first of the Autumn and there have been a few Siskins too. Otherwise there has been a Common Sandpiper around most days, presumably the same one, regular Kingfisher and a few Yellow Wagtails.

31st Aug 2025

It's been another fairly quiet couple of weeks really. The 2 Spotted Flycatchers from Sunday 17th were still present on the Monday morning, but otherwise very little of note.

The gull numbers appear to be dropping again but there's still been 1-2 Yellow-legged Gulls on most visits. As well as the odd Common Sandpiper and Yellow Wagtail.

17th Aug 2025: Spotted Flycatchers

Generally this week has been the same with large numbers of gulls being the general interest, which has pulled in a few Common Gulls, and on Thursday evening there were 3 Common Sandpipers.

Today Clive and John Beak found 2 Spotted Flycatchers in the wood. Our first of the year.

10th Aug 2025

It's generally been a quiet couple of weeks with little change and not much to report. With the large number of gulls around, particularly Lesser Black-backed Gulls, there's normally been a few Yellow-legged Gulls around too with up to six on some visits. There's also been the odd Little Ringed Plover and Yellow Wagtail of note, but very little else.

Today was a bit different though with JFT seeing a juvenile Mediterranean Gull and 2 Mandarin Ducks early on and then a second juvenile Med Gull stood on one of the nearby warehouses. As well as that, as he was leaving a Common Tern flew in for a couple of minutes.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

27th Jul 2025

It has been a fairly quiet week. On Thursday JFT had a possible Caspian Gull, a Yellow-legged Gull and 2 Little Ringed Plovers.

This morning there was a Yellow-legged Gull and a Little Egret.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

20th Jul 2025: Med Gull

There was a couple of Yellow Wagtails at the reservoir yesterday afternoon. 

This afternoon JFT had a brief view of a Mediterranean Gull and there was also a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

13th Jul 2025

There's not been a lot to report this week, but there are signs of birds moving and autumn approaching.

The Little Ringed Plover was still present on Monday, a Common Sandpiper was seen today and Yellow-legged Gulls were seen on Monday (2cy) and Wednesday (3cy). Singles of Yellow Wagtail were seen flying over Monday and Wednesday, and today there was one by the reservoir. Siskin was seen flying over on Monday too. 

A Kingfisher was along the river just north of the wood on Wednesday, as well as a family of Reed Warblers. Today the first Southern Hawker of the year was seen.

6th Jul 2025: Marsh Harrier

The lack of posts recently is an indication of how few times I've been able to make it to the patch but also there's been very few records from others.

There has been at least one Little Egret around seen by John Beak and others, mostly in the morning.

On the 2nd a Marsh Harrier was reported as seen by Tim Burchell. I think this is the third site record, so a very good one. The last I know of was in 2019.

Today Clive had a Little Ringed Plover at the reservoir.

Photos courtesy and copyright of Gill Holliday

8th Jun 2025

Quiet again this week, as to be expected I suppose. Although it was nice to confirm Bullfinches have nested nearby at least, with a family group seen Friday afternoon. They've been really scarce on patch for a while now. Also on Friday a Peregrine could be seen perched up on JDE. Sunday morning there was 4 Reed Warblers singing in the UCV and there's been at least one more in another location, so it's a really good year for them.

Not ideal conditions but Painted Lady, Marbled White and Common Blue butterfly were all seen this morning.

I've been keeping an eye on some orchids I spotted the leaves of a few weeks ago, growing near the Borrow Pit pool. I thought we may have some Marsh Orchids (possibly Southern) but JFT suggested they could be hybrid MarshxCommon Spotted (first two photos below). Would there need to be Marsh Orchids on site or nearby for this to happen? If anyone has any pointers on ID or thoughts I'd be interested to know. Good numbers of Common Spotted this year but I've only seen the one Pyramidal so far. Unfortunately no sign of any Bee Orchids again this year, but I'm hoping they'll pop up again somewhere.

1st Jun 2025

Terribly quiet at the moment. In fact there has been one bird report of any note in the last two weeks, which was a Little Ringed Plover seen by JFT on the 27th.

There's plenty of damselflies and more dragonflies making visits worth while, if you are interested in them. It doesn't seem to be too good for butterflies for some reason, but a few more have been seen this weekend including Meadow Brown and Large Skipper.

18th May 2025: Cuckoo!

Not many visits/reports atm as it's generally quite quiet. On Thursday JFT had the drake Mandarin Duck again, as well as a Common Sandpiper and 2 Little Ringed Plovers.

This morning there were 54+ Swifts when I arrived, which is by far the most I've seen here so far this year. A Little Ringed Plover was calling but I couldn't see it so maybe just a fly over. Another, or maybe the same, Reed Warbler was singing in the scrub along the river and couple of Mistle Thrushes made a brief appearance by the wood. The star bird of the day, spring, and maybe even the year for me, then made an appearance - a female Cuckoo flew over the reservoir and appeared to drop in to trees/scrub near the railway but there was no further sign of it. 

It is the first Cuckoo for me in nearly 20 years of birding at the reservoir and a bird I wondered if I'd ever get here. There have been a few records in that time but all fly throughs or brief visits seen by a lucky few.  

11th May 2025: Common Tern

Late addendum - JFT had our first Reed Warbler of the year on the 4th, singing in scrub along the river.

This week the pair of Mandarin Ducks were seen Monday and Tuesday and just the drake seen on Saturday. 

Our first Common Tern of the year was seen on Thursday by JFT. Another Reed Warbler in a regular spot, the reedy stretch of river just north of the M40. Otherwise it was pretty quiet.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

4th May 2025: Ringed Plover

This week the more notable records seemed to mostly involve waders, coinciding with a lot recorded migrating through the country generally.

On Tuesday Steve H had 2-3 Common Sandpipers and on Thursday I had 11 (of which 10 flew off north together just before 7am), and today there was 2 again. Also on Thursday, I had 2 (a pair of) Mandarin Ducks on the river.

On Friday John Beak saw our first Lapwing of the year, and today we had a Ringed Plover that appeared to come in with a Little Ringed Plover. The latter birds stayed less than 10 mins before flying west.