One Good Tern...

An unplanned day's birding today as my mentor, whose 'phone was not working, arrived unannounced for a trip to a reservoir tucked behind the South Downs.

It was a beautiful day for it, or at least I thought so, but the birds didn't share the enthusiasm.






The reservoir had less water in at than last time and there were certainly a lot of birds on the margins and bobbing around in the middle. From a birdwatching point of view though, it was less than exciting as the birds were Mallards, Black-headed Gulls and Canada Geese. There was a Coot or two in the mix and one or two Great-Crested Grebes out on the water. Standing out from the crowd on the shore was a Grey Heron.

A workman who had been clearing brush nearby and spotted something he couldn't identify, noticed the 'scope etc and asked for my friend's expert opinion. The bird in question was a solitary Dunlin apparently snoozing with its head and quite impressive beak tucked in against its body.

A few minutes later a Common Tern appeared and my friend made the inevitable joke seen in the title of this piece. Sadly however deserved, another Tern did not appear but I enjoyed watching the neat agile bird through the binoculars for some time. As someone who lives in an area where Herring Gulls are everywhere, I always enjoy seeing the smaller neater seabirds like the Kittiwake and the various Terns.

A few butterflies (Meadow Browns) and damselflies darted about but it was generally a warm, quiet, sleepy day as we made a complete tour along the open side of the reservoir against the backdrop of the Downs and the Long Man of Wilmington and then, leaving the shore of the lake for a little, up through a patch of woodland.


This time we didn't make the detour over towards the church but turned up through a gate into the wooded area and further with a view over the weald to the North. As we passed through the gate we remembered the place just beyond, where we had somehow failed to find a Turtle Dove despite being one on each side of the bush it could be heard purring in.

Travelling along the North side of the wooded area we soon returned to views of  the reservoir and then the path returned to the waterside and we headed back to the picnic area for lunch.

The Long Man in the distance

Not much planning had gone into my picnic as the trip was unexpected and I had completely forgotten to fill a flask so I was very pleased when my friend disappeared for a moment and returned with two big mugs of tea.

We then sat in the sun for a long time gazing out over the water and occasionally resorting to the binoculars but without much success.

Despite the lack of excitement it was a very pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon and eventually our patience was rewarded by a spectacular low pass by one of the Buzzards which had been circling high above.