It is that time of year when I add garden warbler to my year list. My go-to place for this is Summer Leys in Northamptonshire. This year my decision was helped by reports of a pair of garganey, showing close on some days last week. I couldn't sleep overnight, waking up on multiple occasions, and so I gave in and arose at 5.30am, breakfasted, and was on-site by 7.30am.
As is often the case, birds that have hung around for days suddenly depart on a 
Saturday when I am able to get to see them ... the garganey pair were no exception - I often think it is related to the number of people moving around at weekends, but I was there so early that wasn't the case - the curse of Saturday mornings.
So many black-headed gulls, building nests and making a racket - joined by dozens of common tern (#119). A single black-tailed godwit was chased around on the far shore from the Pioneer Hide. A cuckoo also flew from right to left on the opposite bank above a single oystercatcher, but nothing else unusual to see so I set off on a circuit.
Not far from the start I found my target bird and managed a few photos - not the best but given the garden warblers (#120) insisted on sitting with he sun behind them, it could have been worse. Whitethroat and blackcap joined in the song.
There were so many sedge warblers on and around the railway embankment - whitethroat too. Although I could hear them, I couldn't see any reed warbler. Ahead a cuckoo landed in a tree but left before I was in range for a photo; I saw it again by the time I reached the turn off the embankment and onto the reserve proper.
When I got back to the car park field I recognised two guys crossing - @987jonty and @grimsbury_birds. Amazing to bump into them so far from Banbury - they were on a mission, around Northants, to top 100 species for the day - possibly going to include Rutland Water as they had had a fall of seven wood sandpiper and a black-winged stilt.
Sightings at Summer Leys (46) included: black-headed gull, black-tailed godwit, blackbird, blackcap, blue tit, bullfinch, canada goose, carrion crow, chaffinch, chiffchaff, collared dove, common tern, coot, cormorant, cuckoo, gadwall, garden warbler, goldfinch, great crested grebe, great tit, greenfinch, grey heron, greylag goose, jackdaw, lapwing, lesser black-backed gull, little egret, long-tailed tit, magpie, mallard, moorhen, mute swan, oystercatcher, red kite, redshank, reed bunting, rook, sedge warbler, shelduck, shoveler, song thrush, tufted duck, whitethroat, wigeon, willow warbler and woodpigeon.
I'd promised to take Charlotte for lunch so got back and dropped into the Great Western Arms in Aynho. Was surprisingly quiet when we arrived but soon started filling up. Once finished we decided to drop into RSPB Otmoor to see if we could see the newly arrived turtle dove.
Though the car park was full, the reserve was quite quiet with little in the skies, not even swallow or martins. 
The reeling gropers from my last visit were silent, and it wasn't until we got to the bridleway by Greenaways that we started to hear the song of sedge and reed warbler. We bumped into a family of four (two young daughters) who we pointed out the turtle dove (#121) to - then a range of other species (including hobby overhead) that the daughters duly checked off in their book. Though we could hear cuckoo they didn't fly past.
Charlotte felt tired so we turned back at the first screen; a number of marsh harriers, red kite and buzzard soared overhead or quartered the reed beds. We heard a bittern booming off to the right but it didn't show itself.
Returning along the bridleway we were luckier with our reed warbler sightings with one climbing high enough and for long enough to allow a quick photo.
Sightings at Otmoor (30) included: black-headed gull, blue tit, buzzard, canada goose, carrion crow, chaffinch, chiffchaff, coot, goldfinch, grey heron, greylag goose, hobby, jay, lapwing, linnet, little egret, magpie, marsh harrier, moorhen, mute swan, pochard, redshank, reed bunting, reed warbler, rook, sedge warbler, shoveler, teal, turtle dove and woodpigeon.
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