Farmoor Reservoir :: 21 October 2017

Just back from two weeks in Kamensk Uralsky with a stinking cold. Undeterred I decided to pop down to Farmoor Reservoir to see if I could see the 3 common scoter mentioned on the Oxon Birding Blog.

Walking in a very brisk wind throughout I set off round F2, heading first across the causeway. I saw two rock pipit who were very skittish, strangely though not on the sheltered side as I might have expected; odd but no other birds sheltering there either. The causeway was just about as quiet as I’ve ever seen it. I talked to a couple of guys coming the other way and they said that they hadn’t been able to find the scoters. After a full circuit i hadn’t seen them either, but did see the 100 or so barnacle geese [#162] in some distant fields, joined by good numbers of greylag.

When I got back to the Visitor Centre I could see a couple of birders along the causeway, stopped and looking out onto F2. I decided to head back across the causeway and found that it was the three common scoters [#163] that they were watching. Unfortunately the birds remained distant but I was glad to have avoided the Saturday morning jinx and pleased I’d been patient enough to cross the causeway for a second time.

Today’s species (21) included: barnacle goose, black-headed gull, carrion crow, common scoter, coot, cormorant, great crested grebe, grey wagtail, greylag goose, lesser black-backed gull, little grebe, long-tailed tit, magpie, mallard, moorhen, mute swan, pied wagtail, rock pipit, rook, tufted duck and woodpigeon.