Farmoor Reservoir comes Good 2nd September 2025

Mark (P) and myself spent the morning at an unexpectedly deserted Slimbridge WWT. I suppose the reason being the schools have gone back and rain was predicted.

Certainly the conditions for viewing were less than ideal with a murky gloom sinking over the grounds and the River Severn beyond. We saw a Wood Sandpiper distantly and Mark got very excited about a free flying Black Swan which, while very striking in flight, I informed him he could not count

Whilst touring the grounds we learned that a juvenile male Garganey had been discovered at my local Farmoor Reservoir  this same morning and with not much else to see at Slimbridge we departed the grounds at around noon, intent on heading for Farmoor.

Coming back over the Cotswolds the weather took a turn for the worse, the rain manifesting itself as a low lying wet mist. blanketing the hills and limiting visibility. Depressingly it looked set for the day but as we got to my home in northwest Oxfordshire it had lifted and the weather now looked like it would only bring infrequent rain showers interspersed with dry spells and even sunshine

At least there was no wind to speak of.

It was grey but dry when we arrived at the reservoir in the mid afternoon and knowing the Garganey was at the far western end of the causeway we set off to see it. As we walked a post came on the Oxon Bird Forum about an adult Little Gull being found by Thomas on the larger  basin of the reservoir but we were unsure of where.Scanning from the central causeway we could see no sign of any gull apart from the regular Yellow legged and Herring Gulls feasting on the dead fish that wash up at the water's edge

I checked for the Little Stint as we walked along but that had gone so I suggested to Mark we prioritise the Garganey and then go and look for the Little Gull which we learned was in the company of some Black headed Gulls at the other end of the causeway that we had just left. Frustratingly we had almost walked right past the gull but as we did not know about it that was hardly unexpected

The Garganey was easily discovered, squatting on the concrete shelving by the water,  a noticeably small duck in the company of some larger dozing Mallard and a couple of Canada Geese and not at all phased by our close proximity.It made a brief excursion onto the water but soon returned to land.

A shake of its feathers revealed a blue grey forewing confirming it as a male and judging by the newness of the rest of its feathers it was a juvenile.

That really was all there was to it. For once everything had gone to plan and after taking the requisite photos and admiring this diminutive migrant duck we made haste back to the corner of F2 to try our luck with the Little Gull.

We were halfway down the causeway when we noticed an ominous grey cloud that carried an imminent threat of rain approaching and which duly arrived but thankfully both of us had had the presence of mind to don waterproof jackets in anticipation of such when we had arrived. Even so the rain managed to inflict its customary misery but we soldiered on determined to do our best to see the Little Gull.The rain passed as quickly as it arrived and we were now confronted with dazzling sunshine, the  light turning the waters to shimmering silver.

Getting to where the Little Gull had been seen earlier I asked another birder if he had seen the gull

No, was the short reply

We checked a group of Black headed Gulls hunting a shoal of small fish just offshore and which the Little Gull had apparently been  associating with earlier but now we could find no sign of its presence. 

We were on our own and looking into the sun, consequently all I was in fact checking were silhouettes of Black headed Gulls on the water.Not at all satisfactory but it did not matter as none were our prize bird. 

Had it gone in the rain or moved elsewhere on the reservoir?

Then a gull flew above the other gulls sat on the water, it looked markedly small as it  flew closer, banked and I could see it had diagnostic black underwings. We had found the adult Little Gull. 

Initially the gull  was quite distant and the sun having turned the waters to a very similar colour to the small white gull, made picking it out flying at long range difficult but we were not about to give up. It eventually settled with the other gulls to sit on the water doing very little and becoming even harder to detect.

We could wait 

We lingered for some time and then it flew back alongside the reservoir wall to the concrete hardstanding, somewhat whimsically known as  'the beach' by the causeway and from where they launch the sailing dinghys  and here was the opportunity I craved to get some images and admire this most delicate and tern like of gulls.

It showed little fear at my or anyone else's close presence, flying around a large red buoy prospecting the water and every so often crash landing in the water with wings raised to seize a small fish.

It was feisty and if a Black headed Gull threatened it, brooked no nonsense, responding with thrusting open bill and spread wings. Mind you it sometimes went the other way!

It ceased flying around and settled to stand at the edge of the hardstanding for a long time  before flying to a nearby landing stage and going to sleep there with some other gulls.

Little Gulls are regular annual passage migrants at the reservoir in variable small numbers, mainly in Spring and occasionally at other times, single birds can and do turn up but rarely if ever come as close as this individual and grant such close views for such a prolonged period.

The Little Gull is the smallest gull in the world and breeds on fresh water lakes and marshes from northern Scandinavia and the eastern Baltic to eastern Siberia. They spend the winter at sea along the coasts of Europe as far south as The Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas. Exceptionally in 2016, a pair successfully bred at the RSPB's Loch of Strathbeg reserve in Aberdeenshire, Scotland but that is the only breeding record for Britain.

Looking to the southwest we could see another build up of cloud signifying an impending rain storm so we took the sensible option of leaving the exposed reservoir. 

Marsh Mega in Oxfordshire 29th August

I needed some mindfulness today after finally getting Sky to come and banish BT broadband from our home. I decided that the RSPB's Otmoor Reserve and an evening sitting quietly at the first screen watching birds coming in to roost for the night would do the trick. 

A spectacular rainbow provided a suitable overture to the main event, that of the arrival of hundreds of Yellow Wagtails coming to roost in the dense reed beds by the screen.Their tiny forms were scattered like  confetti over a sunsetting sky as they circled before dropping into the reeds for the night. In the company of two colleagues we estimated that close to five hundred arrived over a period of thirty or so minutes, the flocks of varying sizes. It was impossible to be precise as to the numbers but we felt our estimate was reasonable. A supporting cast of two Common Cranes and fifty plus Cattle Egrets added to the pleasure and the presence of so many wagtails attracted the inevitable predators in the form of two each of Hobby, Sparrowhawk and Marsh Harrier.

We left in the gloaming, the reserve falling silent as a final clarion call came from the cranes, bugling from far out on the field where they would spend the night.

I returned home my spirit elevated by another of nature's wildlife spectacles.

On  getting home I checked my Oxon Bird Forum WhatsApp on my phone and saw a couple of blurry images posted by Jeremy D of a distant wader he had seen at a lake called Pit 60 at Standlake and that he thought might well be a Marsh Sandpiper. 

A county mega if it was and a rare vagrant to Britain with only 151 previous records.They normally breed from eastern Europe to eastern Siberia and the European breeding birds winter in sub saharan Africa.

As there was no further comment to the posted images I went to bed. 

I slept well that night, the first time for ages. 

All changed for me on awaking at 7am the next day to see a number of additional comments on the forum informing me that Jeremy's  photos from last night were considered to indeed be those of a juvenile Marsh Sandpiper and possibly the same one that had been seen in Devon just a day or two ago. Crucially it was currently being watched from one of the hides at Pit 60.

The last and only other Marsh Sandpiper to be recorded in Oxfordshire was discovered in a flooded field at Abingdon on the 4th of August 2007 that moved to nearby Farmoor Reservoir the next day and then vanished. I had not seen that one so it was imperative I saw this one if at all possible.

Plans for a relaxed morning doing all those things that should have been done days ago flew out of the metaphorical window as did I, out of the door fifteen minutes later into the car and off to Standlake. Fortunately all my birding gear from yesterday was still in the car so delay was cut to a minimum.A quick check ensued for; wallet, phone, bins and most important of all the key to the two bird hides at Pit 60. All were present and correct so it was go, go, go.

The two hides are only accessible to keyholders to prevent vandalism and keys at the moment are at a premium so only locals such as myself, already in possession of one would be able to access the hides. Being such a rare bird the sandpiper would naturally be a must see for non local birders who did not have a key. How that problem was to be  solved would have to wait, as priority number one for those of us who needed it for our Oxfordshire list was to SEE THE BIRD!

Standlake is a twenty minute drive south from my home, so in a grey, dull but mild, rain threatening early morning I negotiated the country roads to Standlake, parked the car and set about the mile long walk to the hides. 

There is no choice but to walk as there is no permitted access for vehicles so I set off as it commenced to rain, not heavy but persistent and soft in the humid conditions, the murkiness of the morning permeating the high banks of hawthorn and bramble that formed an extended corridor of thick vegetation through which snaked the narrow footpath that seems to go onwards and forever leading to the hides. The anxious 'hweets' of Common Chiffchaffs came at regular intervals from the bushes as I passed by and remarkably a late Willow Warbler sang briefly but unmistakably.

I foreswore entering the North Shore Hide, the first of the two hides I came to. I just knew everyone would be in the second and larger Langley Lane Hide. As it was keyholders only it was logical that it would be full of local Oxonbirders, all of which would be known to me so it would be a social as well as a birding occasion, something which I rather looked forward to.

Hot and sweating from the power walk to the hide whilst lugging a heavy camera bag and scope I approached the hide door up the boardwalk.The door opened and Thomas came out having cycled there presumably at dawn.Thomas and several other Oxonbirders are doing an Oxfordshire Big Year so for them this was a must see bird too.

Inside, as suspected the hide was full of welcome and familiar faces. 

Oxonbirds finest in action.I know them all

Trevor E, noting the anxiety on my face let me look through his scope which was focused on the bird and there was a Marsh Sandpiper and the 270th species of bird that I have seen in Oxfordshire was secured.

I relaxed, well sort of.

There was just about room to squeeze onto a bench and get my scope set up, grappling with the scope's tripod legs to get them in place and set at the right height. 

Still feeling hot and  bothered from the walk to the hide I removed my jacket to cool down and finally felt settled enough to look at the sandpiper properly through my scope and indulge in a bit of birder banter. The sandpiper was on the far side of the lake, a very long way off for my camera  but reasonable for a telescope.

With the current low water levels a small area of silt has become exposed at the base of the extensive reeds that grow like a green whispering wall along the south side of the lake and the sandpiper seemed to show a preference for this area above all others.

On first seeing the bird it was obvious it was not a Greenshank even in the dull conditions it appeared very white with contrasting  darker grey upperparts but it was the size and behaviour that was diagnostic for me.When it passed a Lapwing it was obvious how small and dainty it was.

At times, at distance it reminded me of a Wilson's Phalarope due to its whiteness, rapid feeding action and occasional swimming in deeper patches of water. 

The light at first was appalling, made so by the smirrr of light rain drifting over the lake but slowly it was improving  and eventually the rain ceased.The sandpiper initially moved around the lake, sampling various areas but in the end settled for the furthest southern shore where it moved up and down by way of wading or short flights. Hence the distinctly average photos achieved with my camera and lens set up.

The view of Pit 60 from the Langley Lane Hide

Time passed nd some of the hide's occupants left for work or to attend to other matters and the hide became less crowded.

Once having had my fill of the sandpiper it would have been remiss not to check for other birds. Best for me was a Ruddy Duck, probably the one, with marginal success, we have all tried to keep secret  and that has been seen at various lakes and reservoirs in the county over the last month or two . When watching the sandpiper I encountered other birds feeding on the muddy margins under the reeds; a couple of Water Rails, a Common Sandpiper and two Black tailed Godwits revealed themselves in this way  and incongruously a Song Thrush. Reed and Sedge Warblers flickered through the base of the reeds.

More local birders joined us and three Marsh Harriers came to hunt the north shore and this spooked the sandpiper which flew and circled higher, thence to depart to the east at 1045. It looked very much like it had gone for good and with that I left the hide with Badger and we walked back to our cars.

c Ian Lewington

I made my way to Farmoor Reservoir to meet Phil and learned there from Peter that the sandpiper had returned at 1115. Peter had not seen a Marsh Sandpiper in Oxfordshire so we arranged to go back to Pit 60 in my car to hopefully rectify this 

We duly returned and started at the North Shore Hide which we found unoccupied and within seconds Peter had seen the sandpiper, still faithfully huggng the far shoreline. We moved to the Langley Lane Hide which was fairly full and scoped it from there too, everyone hoping it might come closer but it never did. 

We went back to the North Shore Hide and found it still empty and the sandpiper came a bit closer to feed amongst some Lapwings and ducks on an exposed sand bar but that was as close as it ever came. Which was not close enough for a decent photo.

An apochryphal thunderstorm was meanwhile brewing and a huge dark cloud accompanied by loud cracks of thunder passed over, depositing a heavy rainstorm as we sat it out in the hide. Once it had passed we returned to the car in sunshine and I dropped Peter back at Farmoor where he was going to lead a bat walk later in the evening. 

Quite a day and my Oxfordshire list advanced by one more notch. 

No complaints from me!

My grateful thanks to Ian Lewington our estimable County Recorder for the use of his images of the flying Marsh Sandpiper

There was no sign of the Marsh Sandpiper the next day.

A Black necked Grebe visits Farmoor 22nd August 2025

                

Farmoor was doing its best to resemble a seaside resort today as myself, Phil and Dave promenaded up the causeway on a warm sunlit mid morning, the waters of the reservoir silky smooth, untroubled by any wind.These are the halcyon days of late summer but it will not last forever.

All very nice but the benign conditions presaged very little in the way of birdlife but unusually also little in the way of human presence which was no bad thing.

We made our way to the hide at Thames Water's Pinkhill Reserve by the River Thames but here also there was little to see apart from two teal dabbling in the increasingly shallow water as the summer drought continues. We sat in the hide chatting and looking out on the tranquil aquatic surrounds of the tiny reserve.I always feel a calm come over me when indulging in such an activity if you can call it thus.Often I will come to sit, alone and quiet in this hide and allow my mind and body to free fall into pleasing sensory and physical sensations

That was not for today however as we decided to move on, following the Thames Path, flanked with raggedy hedges of hawthorn and blackthorn shrouded in rampaging brambles, the sprays and runners bearing fists of berries, some black, lustrous and sweet to taste amongst others that were still red and hard and yet to ripen.

Two huge and venerable willows bowered the path further on, the enormous boughs, gigantic and mishapen, aslant across the path, leaning above our heads as if almost too heavy for the tree to bear and presenting curtains of long, green, attenuated leaves that hang almost to the ground so one has to brush them gently aside with the back of a hand to pass under. Every time I see them George Butterworth's  pastoral composition The Banks of Green Willow comes to my mind.

Further along the path we came to the pumphouse where water is pumped into the reservoir from the adjacent River Thames, the brutalist architecture of the building incongruous amongst its idyllic surrounds, jarring to the eye but for me remains strangely attractive   

During a Thames Water work party here last week, when trimming back the bankside vegetation of the river we discovered a hidden rope attached to the bank and leading to a cage, lying deep in the opaque green water of the river. Curious, we hauled it out to discover it was full of Signal Crayfish, an invasive American rival to our indigenous crayfish. Introduced in 1976 it has colonised most of mainland Britain and rapidly superceded our native crayfish in our rivers due to being a carrier of crayfish plague which is fatal to our native crayfish.

There must have been around twenty in there, gyrating and twisting, waving fearsome looking claws in a vain endeavour to escape. We took one out to photograph it - well when, if ever, do you get such an opportunity? 

They are surprisingly powerful creatures but if held firmly by the body behind their claws cannot harm you. We put the cage and its contents back in the water assuming they belonged to an opportunist local fisherman but learnt later that it was the property of the Environment Agency, presumably doing some research into the crayfish.

Moving on I picked ripe blackberries to swallow and slowly savour from the high hedge by the tarmac track that runs to Lower Whitley Farm but we never found the Spotted Flycatcher that had been seen hereabouts by Paul yesterday.

We took the zigzag path back up to the reservoir and turning onto the perimeter track headed for the causeway. Approaching the causeway Dave's phone rang.It was Paul informing Dave that a friend of his had discovered a Black necked Grebe in the northwest corner of F1 the smaller of the reservoir's two basins and, as luck would have it, right where we were approaching.

The waters were still glass smooth so anything on the water would be obvious. A scattering of Great crested Grebes floated on the benign surface and slightly further out was undeniably another grebe but smaller.

Through binoculars it was confirmed to be the Black necked Grebe, a juvenile in grey and white plumage.

Slowly it swam closer, picking insects from the water's surface and occasionally diving. I chided myself for not bringing my camera but my back has been telling me for weeks that it really needs a break.Dave fortunately had his camera and managed some more than acceptable images as the grebe came quite close.

Black necked Grebes are annual passage migrants at the reservoir in both Spring and Autumn and always good to see but they rarely remain for longer than a day or two.Where they come from and where they are bound for is open to conjecture. Possibly they are from the small breeding population at St Aidans in Yorkshire see here  and are making their way to the Thames Estuary or the south coast of England where the majority spend the winter.

We walked back to the cafe and I decided to ask permission to drive around the reservoir to go and photograph the grebe which had looked content and settled in its corner when we left. 

I duly did this but on checking where we had seen the grebe not thirty minutes ago I could find no sign of it and despite checking and re-checking it was definitely not there. I walked the western bank of the basin and half the length of the causeway but still could find no sign. Paul joined me but he could not find it either. We were non plussed and after an hour of fruitless searching with some other birders had to assume it had somehow departed or maybe was somewhere else on the larger basin F2 but that seemed unlikely as it was very busy with yachts and fishermen

I gave up and drove home.

Drawing up on my driveway my phone pinged.It was a message from Paul on the Oxon Bird Forum announcing he had re-found the grebe half way down the northern bank of F1, feeding happily by the old mussel encrusted filtration cages - now beached and abandoned on the concrete shelving.

There was no question. I had to go back to Farmoor and photograph the grebe.

I was now into mid afternoon on getting back to the reservoir with the sun blazing down from a cotton wool sky. Costa del Farmoor!

A short walk around the smaller basin to half way along the perimeter track brought me to where the grebe was last seen but there was no sign. 

I walked further and a small, dumpy bird surfaced like a bobbing cork, close into the edge of the reservoir. Found it!

Now the problem was how to get a decent photo in the bright and harsh sunlight.My aim was to try and get images showing the demonic red eyes that this grebe retains at all times but it was far from easy and I had to  surrepticiously position myself between the grebe to my left and the sun to my right to get the right angle and without the grebe swimming further out into the reservoir, taking mild alarm at my obvious presence on the perimeter track. 

I formed a plan. Every time the grebe dived and was underwater I would move rapidly to where I thought it might re-surface and crouch on the retaining wall thus lowering my profile and becoming less obvious.

For once it worked and I happily took my images in between moving to a new position every time the grebe dived

I spent half an hour with the grebe and then at around 4pm headed back to the car. Happy with what I had achieved.

It had been a long but ultimately successful day.