31st May; Reggie Upstaged by Groppers and the Right Tern for a Change!

On Saturday afternoon the winds had increased form the East and several small parties of Black Terns had been reported from various inland reservoirs across the Midlands. I kept a constant check to see if any had been found close to home but none were. Owing to the Lockdown we had failed to see any of the Black Terns that had passed through Farmoor in April and early May, but a few enterprising local birders had managed to see them, albeit at long range, by viewing through the perimeter fence whilst the reservoir was off limits to the public. The weather forecast promised more Easterly winds on Sunday so I thought that it would be worth checking Farmoor for Black Terns in the morning.

Current restrictions meant that access to the reservoir is only permitted from ten o'clock and I wanted to get out earlier so I hatched a plan to walk along the River Thames footpath first and enter the reservoir itself bang on ten. I drove to Lower Whitley Farm where there are limited parking spaces next to the Thames Path. Well, there used to be parking space there but now we were greeted by new signage declaring that, "No Unauthorised Vehicles Past This Point" on the road in, and at the parking areas, "Resident Parking Only". Obviously the locals had become irritated by folk parking there during the Lockdown closure of the reservoir carpark and had complained enough to get Thames Water to erect the signs. Not wanting to incur the wrath of the residents, we turned around and drove out again. Luckily I remembered that there is a lay-by next to the main road at the Farmoor village end of the reservoir and that access could be gained to the Thames Path from there. This change of parking plan would prove to be my second lucky break in as many days!

We found the Pinkhill section of the path after a false start which took us into a boatyard. Sitting at a picnic table by the boat moorings next to Pinkhill Lock while soaking up the early morning sunshine, we could hear Common Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers singing but our attention was claimed by a Black-headed Gull flying along the river towards us. We were interested because it was attempting to carry a long stick to its nest, probably on one of the reservoir rafts, and looked rather comical. The stick was unwieldy and awkward to manoeuvre in the breezy conditions and just as the Gull reached us it dropped it. Instead of trying to pick it up again, the Gull abandoned its prize and left it to the river to take it back downstream. Maybe the Gull wasn't on nest restoration duties but just playing a version of "Pooh Sticks" instead.

Black-headed Gull

As we walked the path around the Pinkhill reserve, I remembered that it was in this area where a particularly showy Sedge Warbler had been seen throughout the spring. We had deigned not to bother visiting, we had got plenty of Sedgies on Otmoor already, but this particular bird, christened "Reg" or "Reggie" had attracted many photographers because of its propensity to perch very openly and sing for hours. Firstly though as we reached a bend in the river, we spotted a fine male Reed Bunting singing while perched on a tall reed stem. Reed Buntings are handsome birds but largely ignored by many, I guess because they are reasonably common. Their song is thin and weedy compared to the loud and brash refrains of most of our summer Warblers, another reason why they get overlooked perhaps. But at least Reed Buntings are showy and come the depths of winter they can be relied upon to provide entertainment at feeding stations and often enliven garden birding by visiting feeders there too.

Reed Bunting

A Common Whitethroat sang heartily from a Willow tree that overlooks the river and a patch of long grasses that has been left untended on a river bend. The Whitethroat flew down into the grass and then I spotted what must be "Reggie the Sedgie's" perch. In the middle of the wild patch was an old tree bough and the dead branches stood pointing skywards providing the convenient perches that I'd seen in many photos over the last few weeks, sporting a singing Sedge Warbler. At the moment though the branches were empty although we could hear a Sedge Warbler singing nearby.

Common Whitethroat

The singing Sedge Warbler was, of course, "Reg" and it wasn't long before he fluttered out of the bush next to the river and onto his favourite perch and gave us his best rendition. Sadly a Sedge Warbler still singing full on at this stage of the spring has probably failed to land a mate so "Reg" cuts a bit of a forlorn figure as he sings away day after day. Alternatively, I prefer to think that he does have a mate, and that she'll be sitting on eggs close by, but he enjoys philandering and continues his attempts to entice other females to breed with. In between bouts of singing "Reg" would visit various places around the patch of long grass so maybe he already had several nests on the go, but there was no sign of feeding activity at any of them. Whatever his situation, he is certainly a very bold individual and delighted us, as he has many other visitors, with his almost constant singing and posing.

"Reg" the Sedge Warbler

As we left "Reg" to it, I heard a Cetti's Warbler call from a small tangled Willow on the river bank. I swung my bins up to check on the presumed Cetti's that was inching along a branch in the middle of the tree and was astonished to see a Grasshopper Warbler instead! The Grasshopper Warbler, aka Gropper, disappeared into the foliage just as I related to Mrs Caley what I had seen. Not surprisingly my sighting was questioned, mainly because you don't usually see Groppers "out and about" unless a male is reeling its song from a prominent perch earlier in the spring. In fact I can only remember seeing silent Groppers once before when I saw a family group scuttling low in the grass alongside a path on Otmoor. Despite my wife's query to my ID though, I was absolutely definite that I'd seen a Gropper owing to the birds streaked upper parts and its very slender and attenuated body shape, the possible confusion species Reed Warblers are plain backed and shorter looking birds and Sedge Warblers have a very well marked supercilium. In the event, a minute or so later, the Gropper reappeared in the Willow and Mrs Caley was able to see it as well. 

Grasshopper Warbler

People that know me, will also know that Grasshopper Warblers are another of my favourite birds. I love the way that they skulk around in rank grass and scrubby bushes but are occasionally willing to reward the birder by the males creeping up a perch in a low bush or grass stem and sing their weird and monotonous reeling song. So to find this one skulking in a tree and not openly singing had me beaming from ear to ear! The Gropper was clearly on a feeding mission and was very active, never stopping still for even a moment or two. The Willow wasn't too densely foliaged though so we able to follow the Gropper fairly easily and I managed some very gratifying shots.

We were stood by a fence that marked the boundary of the Pinkhill nature reserve and as we watched the Gropper, it flew right past us and into the dark recesses of another tree the other side of the fence. There the bird was trickier to see and I forgot to alter the camera settings, so when the bird stopped momentarily on an exposed branch before dropping into the grass, I rather wasted a fantastic opportunity to grab some equally fantastic images. 

But I needn't have worried because our views and my photographic chances were to improve considerably when the Gropper appeared again, this time on the fence itself. This time its bill was stuffed with insect food so it became clear that nestlings were being fed so once the Gropper had dropped into the grassy patch to deliver the meal we moved right back to the Willow to give the bird more space.

A few moments later and there were two Grasshopper Warblers perched on the fence, one at each end. This was getting silly! I concentrated on the furthest bird which I assumed was a different bird from the one that we'd been watching previously because that one had stayed loyal to our end of the fence and grassy patch. 

Time was pressing on though, and I wanted to get up reservoir side and see if my prophecy that Black Terns would favour Farmoor today had come true. We left the Groppers to their parental duties and continued along the Thames Path towards the sluice works where there is access up to the reservoir. On the way we paused to admire a beautiful Great Crested Grebe that was taking time out in midstream to preen and to stretch its wings.

Great Crested Grebe

Up at the reservoir, I took a quick scan of F2, the larger of the two basins and where I suspected Black Terns to be if present. Nothing on the first sweep but on the second, bingo! Two adult Black Terns were swooping up and down over the water, way out in the middle as they invariably are here, it's only juvenile Black Terns that arrive later in the year during return migration, that tend to come closer to the banks. I wasn't bothered though that the Terns were way out in the middle, instead I felt a swell of pride that I'd recognised the conditions that brought the birds to Farmoor and that my hunch had proven correct for a rare change!

Black Terns

Because we had sneaked in via the Thames path there was not yet any other birders along the causeway which is where we headed to try to get closer to the two Black Terns, our 169th species for the year. I know from experience that the Terns would fly into the wind, from one end of the reservoir to the other, snaring flies as they went, and would then fly back to their start point and repeat over and over again. I stood for a moment watching to see where they were closest to the concrete embankment, in truth nowhere very near, but probably the best spot was midway between our position at the western end and the bird hide halfway along the causeway. For the next half hour we watched the two Terns dip feed over the reservoir but the closest they came to the banks was probably about fifty metres. At least I managed to grab some record shots.

Black Terns, when they stay far out from the banks are actually difficult to photograph owing to their habit of flying well above the water and then dipping quickly down to secure a fly. When they are above the water, between five and ten metres at a guess, the trees that line the reservoir fool the cameras focussing abilities. Add to that the fact that the birds, despite their name, are actually more grey than black and therefore blend in against the dull grey waters of the reservoirs.

The best chance of getting better photos, for me anyway, came when the birds rose above the tree line and were silhouetted against the sky, then the camera coped better. They were still too far away though! I've decided that I'm struggling too much to get the images that I want so a new camera and lens kit is under consideration!

I stuck it out for as long as Mrs Caley's patience lasted and was rewarded towards the end of our stint when the Black Terns began to venture a tad closer to us allowing me to get some slightly better shots. Black Terns are one of my favourite of the Tern species, one that I never saw much of until the last few years but now one that I look forward to reconnecting with each spring and autumn now. That said I'm yet to get a really good photo of an adult Black Tern from anywhere let alone Farmoor. I'm already waiting eagerly for the juveniles when they visit Farmoor on their migration southwards in August. Maybe there will be a few adult birds that don't stay so resolutely out in the middle of F2 with them.

Returning along the causeway towards the river path, we tarried to watch some tender love between a pair of Coots and their young which rested on the pontoon in the north-western corner of F2. This pontoon, installed I believe as housing for barley straw which acts as an algae reduction agent, has been commandeered by a noisy colony of Black-headed Gulls as a nesting platform. No young Gulls yet but it won't be long before the eggs hatch. Great Crested Grebes already have well grown young and one drifted past as we sat on the embankment wall.

Coot & Cootlets

juvenile Great Crested Grebe

The Grasshopper Warblers had gone to ground by the time we had regained the grassy patch by the river but "Reg" the Sedge Warbler was back on his perch and belting it out again so I indulged again and took a few more photos of him, this time putting the river to my back to get a different background blur to the images. Just as we made to leave we spotted a Gropper as it hopped up onto the fence before dropping down again, further embellishing a terrific few hours birding. Who said there's never anything to see in Oxfordshire? Uh...me!

Farmoor had certainly delivered this morning!