Farmoor, 28th July

With much anticipation of the forecast precipitation, it seemed the best place to head on Saturday morning was Farmoor where anything could fly in at any time. Farmoor, although good at any time, is definitely a bad weather site, its size attracting many overflying birds and it acts as a refuge when the going gets tough for them. The trade off is that the reservoir is extremely exposed and there is very little cover for birders when the weather does turn a bit nasty. There had been a small amount of rain on Friday evening, which had scuppered any chance of seeing the blood moon (not that I was that interested) so there would already be a chance that something good had "dropped" in.

The Black Terns of Thursday hadn't been seen on Friday but they do tend to be good weather migrants so were probably on their way somewhere even warmer than the UK was at present, which we all know has been "scorchio". One of the most noticeable things about Farmoor right now is the amount of dead and dying trout that litter the embankments. Indeed fishing has been temporarily halted on the reservoir. The fish stocks are being decimated by a lack of oxygen in the water, brought on by the extremely high temperatures of the summer. The dead fish are proving to be very attractive to a variety of gulls and corvids which can be found gorging on many of the stranded fish.

Fish that are still alive are being forced right into the shallow margins too, especially the smaller fry and young, making finding a meal for the Common Terns very easy. Once a fish has been captured though it isn't always easy to deliver it to the waiting offspring since there are many Gulls that are ready and willing to relieve the Tern of its prize. We watched a Yellow-legged Gull chase a Black-headed Gull that pursued a Common Tern for a fish breakfast. The bigger Gull was easily given the slip but the smaller and more agile Black-headed Gull doggedly followed the Common Tern for some time and often came close, almost touching, but the Tern always seemed to have one more deft turn in order to keep its pursuer at bay. I should add that it was also very windy so the agility of both birds was to be marvelled. The Common Tern kept the fish and was able to pass it to its greedy chick which by now had joined in the chase anyway!

Just past the hide we came across a Dunlin that was foraging along the "tide line". Dunlin are very confiding here and if you sit quietly by the causeway wall, will normally approach very closely, as this one did. It appeared as if the small wading bird had some damage to its left eye since it was always half closed but it looked healthy enough otherwise. Seeing the Dunlin raised our expectations a notch because it might have heralded something a bit more unusual being around too (it didn't of course).

The main interest now centred on a large number of hirundines that were feeding very close to the surface in the south-west corner of F1. Almost all were Sand Martins but there were a few House Martins too. A small number of Swifts were flying higher overhead, in the strengthening wind they were almost impossible to track.

On reaching the area where the Sand Martins were most active I decided to have a go at photographing them since I've never really nailed a good shot of one. I took lots of frames and the majority were pretty useless, a few proved to be worth keeping but I still never got that "clincher". The birds were hunting small flying insects (I assumed) very close to the water, the wind keeping the insects down. The wind also helped since the birds were flying into it which slowed them down giving me a better than normal chance of tracking and focussing. It was a bright morning too which also helped.

Mrs Caley's patience ran out so we were on the move again, just as well since I'd have wasted the whole day photographing the Sand Martins and, as I keep reminding myself, I am a birder first and a "togger" second. The photos are only records of what I see (believe me?). A Common Sandpiper tootled past and landed on the embankment. Before I could get there though it had been put to flight again by a jogger and this time landed on the new barrier in the adjacent corner of F2. Common Sandpipers, approachable on their breeding grounds in Scotland, are one of the most wary of birds and never like close approach here, so this one was actually quite close for a change.

We chose a walk around F1 and soon spotted another Dunlin. I say another because the bill looked longer but it also had a half closed left eye so may have been the same one. Or perhaps Dunlin just squint when they see me?!

Clouds were building up so I suggested that it might be trite to forego the circuit of F1 and to retrace our steps back along the causeway. This also, cunningly I thought, gave me another chance to photograph the Sand Martins!

Nothing more of note was seen on the walk back but glancing behind us it was evident that we'd made a wise choice to walk in since the sky to the west was black promising a heavy shower of rain. We quickened our pace and made it to the sanctuary of the cafe for a coffee and some breakfast. Just as well when a few minutes later the squall came through turning the reservoir surface into something resembling a stormy sea and extremely heavy rain battered against the windows. The ranger on site later told us that a 60 knot gust had heralded the onset of the rain! People that had been caught outside looked as if they'd been swimming! See a mildly exciting video here Farmoor storm

By the time we'd finished breakfast the bad weather had passed. I took a couple of shots of a Carrion Crow, admiring its sleek black plumage while also wondering how it had managed to stay so dry.