Having dipped the ring-necked duck at Thrupp Lake a couple of days before, Kevin Heath and I were itching to have another go. We arranged to visit again and to meet one of Kevin's friends there - Adrian Sparrowhawk - an appropriate name for a birder.
We elected to park in the industrial estate again and take a longer walk. As we entered the reserve, we saw two muntjac deer scurrying away into the undergrowth - we caught sight of them a couple of times but really only fleeting glances. We scrutinised every duck as we went, hoping to see the target bird - but no such luck - we did come across a couple of Egyptian geese and a goldcrest to add to our list but didn't have as good views as we'd enjoyed a couple of days earlier. We could hear song thrush but we couldn't set eyes on it.
We soon reached the eastern bank finding three birders in position - it was Nick and Anne Truby and Mark Chivers. We asked if they'd found the duck yet and they confirmed it had showed - when we asked where to look, they could relocate it. In only a few minutes it reappeared and started diving close to the islands in the centre of the lake - it would never get close but a few record shots would do.
While watching the ring-necked duck, Adrian appeared. We scanned and noted the other species on show but then decided we'd reconvene at Farmoor Reservoir, on the way home - all except Mark who wanted to drop into Port Meadow for two red-breasted geese.
As Kevin and I had parked further away we were the last to arrive at Farmoor and found the others already on the causeway. We caught up with them but found that they hadn't found either the juvenile great northern diver or female scaup. At the western end of the causeway Kevin and then Adrian announced the female scaup but the rest of us couldn't see it. Walking a little way around F1 I started taking photos of what I thought was the scaup but as it came into better view, we could see it was only a tufted duck. A few paces further on Nick picked out the great northern diver but it stayed distant and soon disappeared altogether, eventually reappearing halfway down the causeway.
We made our way back only stopping at the cages on F2 where Kevin picked out the scaup - he called Nick back to join us but most continued on to see the great northern diver. Perhaps we should have stayed as when Nick re-joined us he reported that a windsurfer had flushed the scaup and he’d captured rather a nice flight shot.
We watched as the gn diver came closer and closer to the causeway giving us great views. A few other stopped and joined as we watched.
On one dive the bird came up with a signal crayfish and began dismembering it - removing the claws before consuming much of the rest. It was a fascinating watch - I'm sure the fisherman will be delighted that it is hoovering these crayfish up. A series of photos showed the action as it took occured.
We watched as the great northern diver continued to fish and soon it emerged with another crayfish. It was amazing to see the scenes from a few minutes earlier being repeated; another feast.
Lunchtime was approaching and some of us needed to get home, so we packed up happy with our morning out.
Good birds and good to meet you all.
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