Staines Reservoir Twitch

A quick check on Birdguides about 10am showed that the American Horned Lark was showing on the north side of the causeway.  So with a bright calm morning forecast it looked good to see the bird and maybe get some photos with the sun at my back.  I had previously seen the bird back in November along with Simon Ram but then the bird was over 200 metres away!  I was obviously hoping for something a little closer

About an hour later I arrived on site and found that the bird was towards the east end of the causeway, so a few minutes walking was called for.  Unfortunately the bird had decided to move to the sunny south side of the causeway making light conditions for photography a little tricky as we were facing the sun.  About 30-40 birders were there in the hour or so I was present.  A little surprising mid-week and for a bird that had been around a while.

The bird continued to feed over a 100 metres stretch for the next hour or so.  There was no sign of it moving back to the north side.

American Horned Lark - Light conditions not great but at least only 20-30feet away.

On the way back I was keeping an eye out for the Water Pipits that had been reported but all I saw were a few Meadow Pipits.  However I did find a nice Black-necked Grebe that seemed to be associating with some Pochard.  The photos below were taken through the railings and at an angle!  It was moving around quite a bit so I felt lucky just to get the shots below.

Black-necked Grebe - In the NW corner of the south basin.