Farmoor Reservoir :: 26 March 2022

It was to be Mother's Day on Sunday, but with venues all likely to be packed, we opted to book for Saturday lunch instead. This meant setting out birding early and getting home in time to shower and change for lunch. We arrived at Farmoor Reservoir and made our way across the causeway hoping to connect with roosting waders but found none; the best we had was a male goldeneye with four females.

We reached the western end of the causeway and scanned along the water’s edge but saw nothing of note. We decided to drop down to the river and the Pinkhill Hide to see if we could find the garganey that had been showing there for the last few days. We stopped to view a couple of singing warblers - a blackcap and chiffchaff.

We reached the hide and found Ewan Urquhart already in residence. The garganey had decided to have a lie in and were likely hidden somewhere in the reeds and rushes resulting in us mainly having a chat. Eventually we gave up and made our way along to the turn in the river and scanned around the area. With nothing to add we decided that a stroll along the river might be good but as we reached the turn a chap coming the other way stopped to talk to us - also a member of the Banbury Ornithological Society he helps Allan Peters manage the Bicester Wetlands Reserve. He told us he'd seen two little ringed plovers on the western edge of F1 so we parted and climbed up onto the bank to find that they were nowhere to be seen. We dropped back into the Pinkhill Hide but the garganey were still hiding and decided to make our way round F2 to see if the great northern diver and red-crested pochard (seen the previous day) were still there.

As we passed the end of the causeway I saw a distant bird, just about visible, and we decided worth investigation. There were a couple ahead of us and we were very lucky that they hugged the left side of the road, obscuring them from the bird. We made our way passed the spot and looked back - we were now on the right side of the spot to take photos. Looking back, we could see there were in fact two little ringed plover, one feeding at the water's edge and the other watching on. These were our first of the year - the day salvaged with a year tick! We closed distance a couple of times to try and get a decent photo but without flushing the birds - another birder joined behind and followed suit.

We considered picking up a coffee from the Visitor's Centre but realised that it didn't open until 10.00am and instead resumed our diver and pochard plan and set off around F2. On the southern end we found the great northern diver, initially distant and diving. It graced us with closer views after a few dives and I took some more record shots – they were never going to be as satisfying as those earlier in the year eating signal crayfish.

We continued to look for red-created pochard but dipped on those. As Kev scanned the area with his scope a mixed flock of barnacle and snow geese circled with some settling on the western side. I snapped a few as they passed, and we agreed the visit had eventually delivered. Just one of these garganey to see somewhere - probably not a pre-work visit anywhere as I will likely be opening up the office for much of the next week.

We returned to the car, but just before leaving the reservoir I took a photo of a rather attractive (2w?) herring gull.