Buff-bellied Pipit

A Buff-bellied Pipit has been present in Berkshire for the past few days, a bird that has been recorded in Britain less than 20 times, another possible 'MEGA'. The site which the bird was frequenting is a private reservoir, the Queen Mother Reservoir close to Slough and was only open to the public on a few days, with access being granted strictly by permit only and so myself and Chris Orders had to wait until 22nd December before the site was open and we were able to make the trip.

Chris picked me up at around 6.45am, with rain hammering the car windows, not ideal driving conditions and with visibility very poor on the A1 and M25, we were filled with foreboding. We arrived at the site with rain still falling, a waterfall had formed on the steps to the reservoir, but we started the walk to the south end of the lake, the birds' favoured spot. We met several birders, all with negative news, we looked and looked, getting wetter and wetter, but nothing, just a couple of Meadow Pipits and a flock of Ring-necked Parakeets. We went back to the car for a coffee and to try and dry out slightly, stopping off on the way to see the Long-tailed Duck and Red-necked Grebe that were both present by the sailing club.

We finished our coffee and again walked around the reservoir. The place was becoming quite depressing, we had been on site for about 3 hours and had nothing to show for our searching, except possible pneumonia. People were leaving, convinced the bird had either flown, or quite possibly succumbed to the weather, but we persevered. We continued the walk, meeting a group of 3 who casually asked, "Did you see it? It just flew over there!" We thought they were taking the mickey, but no, they were quite serious! We re-doubled our efforts, at least the bird was still there! I saw a group ahead walking quite strangely, every so often stopping to lean over the reservoir bank and scan with their binoculars and then walk with a lot of purpose-the bird was there! Feeding and preening not five yards in front of them! Hurrah!

We watched this bird for a good hour, a dark, sullied looking bird with a very bold eye-ring and almost black legs, very different to 'our' Meadow Pipit. The views were outstanding, down to a couple of feet at times. The bird was very active, not lending itself to photography, and the rain still hadn't stopped. I managed a few shots, but decided to get a video and see if I could get some stills from that. The results are below.

A single shot

A single shot

A video 'grab' image

A video 'grab' image

A video 'grab' image

A video 'grab' image

An image showing how close the bird was to us (the bird is in black and white). copyright Chris Orders

Below is the video from which the above stills were taken. You can hear the rain hitting the lens of my camera, sorry about that and a shot of the Long-tailed Duck.

The Long-tailed Duck

A rewarding day, despite the weather, with another 'Lifer' in the bag for both of us and 'Thanks' again to Chris for driving. What will 2013 bring?