I had taken the day off work and despite the rain decided to visit Wildlife Trust BCN's Summer Leys as it has a number of hides we could hold up in. We stopped for breakfast, as is now customary, and arrived to find the car park virtually empty and the Visitor's Centre shut. We started in the Pioneer Hide and scanned through the birds on offer but not adding anything significant. We heard aa little grebe call but never laid eyes on it - the same was true for the Cetti's warbler.
Eventually we made for the Double-decker Hide and hoped to find something there - after a bit of effort we managed to locate two common snipe but there was no sign of any jack snipe - it is almost to the day that we had amazing views from this hide. The bird count was trickling along and we decided to make a complete circuit, spotting distant sand martins around the wall - we wouldn't see them close up as the rain had become heavier at this point. We did have some nice views of chiffchaff (of which there were many) and watched a buzzard being mobbed by gulls - we prayed for a pass-through osprey, but it was too much to hope for.
The rain died away and we stopped and scanned regularly, noticing very few wader species - really just redshank and oystercatchers. We reached the woods at the western end and Kev fed the birds with a few of his biscuits as they seemed all to be perched waiting for him to do so. The robin looked so engaged I stepped back to get it in focus - the great and blue tits did likewise. They then followed us for 100m or so.
Almost back to the car we stopped, having heard a willow warbler call. We thought it must be across the road as the call was faint but after a few minutes we found it on the back side of the hedge. After another five minutes we saw what appeared to be two, one calling faintly again - they left before I could take a photo. At least I got one year tick. 50 species seen and heard.
On the way home we stopped off at Boddington Reservoir hoping for terns - both Arctic and Common had been reported at Farmoor Reservoir that morning. There were no terns there and only a single herring gull. The rain started again.
Unusually for a Saturday I didn't plan to go birding - we were meeting friends for lunch and then were going to Brum to see Micky Flannigan, the comedian. Sitting after breakfast, a report from Ian Rowe of a common tern and adult kittiwake spurred me into action and I was there in under half an hour. I decided on an anti-clockwise rotation and soon found the pair flying.
I continued round and met Ian Rowe coming the other way, stopping for a short chat. The kittiwake landed on a buoy that appeared much closer to the other bank and so I set off for the western side finding Gareth Blockley (@grimsbury_birds) already in place. We watched the bird, now relocated to a buoy in the middle on the reservoir and the tern on a bouy on the boat club (southern) end. The yellow wagtail flew past a couple of time.
We were joined by John Friendship-Taylor (@987jonty) and his son Luca. We chatted for a while before I took a photo of what I belived to be a white wagtail, working along the bank - I'll let you be the judge.
We parted and Gareth an I added willow warbler on the hedge between the cow field and the wter treatment works on the way back to the car. We were just leaving after chatting for a good while when John and Luca returned, and we all left together. A nice hour or so out, given I hadn't expected to be birding at all.
Year List: 176.
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