Black or Black? 26th July

My extremely (not) busy working week had all but petered out and all I had to do was some office jobs and choose some paint for the outside of the house. After not finding the colour we were looking for, two messages came through on the phone, the first via Facebook detailing that a couple of Black-tailed Godwits had been found earlier in the morning at BWR (Bicester Wetlands Reserve) closely followed by a text from Badger that Dai had found a dozen or so Black Terns at Farmoor. Decision then? VAT could wait, we'd seen Blackwits just on Monday at Frampton Marsh and had seen them before at BWR anyway so it had to be the Black Terns! To be fair we'd seen a few Black Terns before at Farmoor and they were already on the (non-existent) year list (at Boddington reservoir in May) but, for my money, they are one of the best of the Tern species to observe so it was a no brainer.

We arrived at Farmoor at 10:30 into another blistering hot sunny day (nudging 30 degrees already). Uncommonly for Farmoor there was hardly any breeze to stir things up either and the reservoir resembled the proverbial millpond. There was one other birder present but he went (almost) running off towards F1 (the Terns had been seen on F2) as we reached the embankment so I was none the wiser as to whether he'd seen them or not. I scanned around and couldn't see the birds anywhere so we followed as far as the cafe from where I could scope F1. There was no sign of any Black Terns on F1, just a few Common Terns, maybe they had confused the other chap or maybe he wasn't aware of their rarer cousins being present. Rather than waste energy in the searing heat we returned to the tower and re-scanned the south-west corner of F2, where most birds seem to hang out, and finally spotted 6 Black Terns way over the other side flying close to the water surface. Again because of the temperature and since we were now proud owners of a season ticket for the car park, we decided it would be more than frugal to drive around to the south-western corner of F2 and have a much shorter walk in order to get closer to the Terns.

At the top of the steps we could see some of the Black Terns immediately and, by Farmoor standards, they weren't too far out either. I counted 6 still, and only 6 so some must have departed already. They seemed to be centring their feeding activities on the water just off the pontoon so they were roughly 50 metres away when they came the closest to us. We settled in at the conveniently placed picnic table and watched as all 6 birds headed further out into the reservoir. How typical is that?! For the next 10 minutes they stayed well out in the middle of F2 (or so it seemed) and indeed at times simply disappeared (I can't work out how birds manage to do that, they must have cloaks of invisibility!) before reappearing in a different area. Eventually though our patience was rewarded (it was a hot day, patience wears thin quickly) and the Black Terns returned to closer waters. They were still frustratingly just out of reach for my 400mm lens so I added the 1.4 extender and used a "No Fishing" sign for stability (for the camera, not me, it was still morning remember?). Now I'm not particularly very good at using the camera when the extender is attached and it never gives the most satisfying results either, since it slows down the focussing (not great when trying to photograph fast moving birds like Black Terns) and allows less light in which softens the images but at the distance the birds were at it would be the only way of obtaining any acceptable photos. Luck was quickly on my side however when one of the Terns flew in to our side of the marker buoys and allowed me to grab a couple of reasonable shots!

The buoys were proving irresistible to the Black Terns that would frequently rest momentarily on them. Often they were moved on by the more robust Common Terns but would also engage in their own Black Tern version of TV's Gladiators (I'm guessing here since, and categorically no, I don't and never will watch such rubbish) where more than one would try to evict the sitting tenant. At one point 4 of the 6 were trying to win a favoured resting spot on one of the buoys even though there were others to choose from.

The Tern "King of the Castle"!

"Come on, let's get him off"!

All 6 playing Tern "Musical Buoys"!

"Ge'r off, I was here first"! 

"Other buoys are available"

"I'm bigger than you, It's my buoy now"!

Unlike the Black Terns we'd seen at Boddington in May, which were in breeding plumage whereas these were all now moulting into winter garb and which had fed by flying high above the water and then dipping down to collect flying insects from the surface, these were patrolling the air space just a few feet above the water and only occasionally went higher above it. That made it somewhat easier to track them with the camera enabling focussing to be easier too but still with the incumbent problems mentioned previously.

I turned my attention to some of the other birds on offer. The pontoon itself was a magnet to loafing cormorants and, oddly I thought, a Grey Heron. Many black-headed gulls favoured the closer raft and the walkway leading to it. The buoys continued to attract all sorts as a hang out, in addition to the Terns a Herring Gull raucously announced his occupation of one. A buzzard coasted over enjoying the heat much more than we were.

"Spot the odd one out"!

"I'm a singer in a Buoy Band"!

"Come on up, it's cooler"!

The Black Terns suddenly and without warning lifted higher into the air and began circling and gaining height. That would be that I thought but a minute later they all returned back to their feeding. Obviously the leader hadn't said it was time to go! With the arrival of Tezzer the Black Terns repeated the procedure but this time disappeared out of sight so we decided to get out of the hot sun too and head for home. The Terns must have returned though since Tezzer got some of his customary excellent images after we'd left. As far as I know they weren't seen later that day or the day after.

"Going, going....."