BBP+LTD=OMG

Well that was a weekend to remember. On Saturday, the first South London Birders Christmas shindig saw a few of us take a trip down to Sheppey for the day (bit on that to come) but working backwards, Sunday, I headed over to a certain reservoir just west of London to see a certain Pipit...

So you might know the deal by now...an American Buff-bellied Pipit was found at the Queen Mother Reservoir in Berkshire in the middle of last week thus giving many hundreds of happy birders a valid excuse not to go Christmas shopping. Only around 20 of these birds have been recorded in the UK I think, with records top-heavy in the last few years. Of those, most are quite remote (Scillies etc) so one this far in land is quite special. Having it so close to London too meant it was one well-twitched bird (over 1000 punters in 4 days and counting) and on top of that, it  was clearly non-plussed by any attention and was giving unbelievable views.

Pitching up on Sunday lunchtime, I walked to the site with another birder I met on the train. En route, a sweet local couple came out to ask us what in the dickens was going on. As I explained the chap turned to his wife "Pipit...Buff-pipit?..remember that Pam, we'll look it up". They seemed thankful that we weren't terrorists at least and wished us good luck.

It wasn't hard to find the bird; a stationary mass of around 60-70 birders were variously stood, crouched, hunched and largely silent save for clicking cameras, gathered around one of the slipways of the sailing club, just a couple hundred yards from the entrance. And there it was, no more than 5 yards away, darting about at the water's edge, picking minuscule seeds (I assume) from the crevices and watery debris. After only 10 mins with it, it suddenly flew off across the reservoir, phew that was close I thought...but thankfully it was soon found again nearby. What more to say?! Go to another site if you want great photos (!) but here it is, the little star:

(American) Buff-bellied Pipit (Anthus rubescens rubescens),
Queen Mother Reservoir, 16/12/12

Despite the incredible views, it rarely ever stopped moving but I did least capture some useful ID pointers: its general 'buff' appearance, sturdy black legs, plain 'upper' parts (back-head), pale eye-ring and 'smudged' streaking to breast. Both it's tail feathers and remiges showed up nice and dark and gave it a 'neat' appearance (photos 3 & 5 above). For a bird that's been blown across the Atlantic and ended up on reservoir near Staines, it looked in good shape. As little brown jobs go, it takes some beating.

I was feeling pretty good after that and what with it being a beautiful crisp, wintery day and all...So I left the twitch and went for a walk around the vast reservoir run by Thames Water. I saw a Red Kite soaring in the distance and there was a Red-necked Grebe about (which eluded me) but I was pretty keen to find the Long-tailed Duck that was reported. It took a bit of time (too easy to be spoiled sometimes) but eventually I tracked it down along the south-western edge of the reservoir. Again, it showed brilliantly, coming down to 30-35ft, a lovely adult winter female. This was only my second Long-tail but I think they're great birds:

Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis),
Queen Mother Reservoir, 16/12/12

After a while admiring all this I decided to head back via the cafe to warm up. It was a top day and the birds were really special; just to round it off a Waxwing shot over the station calling while I was waiting for the train back to Waterloo. Hard to beat.