London's incredibly tame Buff-bellied Pipit

It took London's first ever Buff-bellied Pipit, turning up less than 2 miles from the patch, to break my self-imposed no twitch rule (don't worry, this twitch is a one-off! Honest!!). The bird showed ridiculously well along the east bank of Queen Mother Reservoir in Berkshire, down to less than a metre at times (Water Pipits at Staines Moor take note), and proved a real education as well as providing amazing photo opportunities! Unfortunately I didn't hear it call once. I must say a huge thank you to the Berkshire Ornithological Club for arranging access and organising everything so well!

The bird didn't seem to mind being under the main flightpath of Heathrow Airport.
Oh look everyone, an Airbus A380!

Some terrible video below - I wonder why I couldn't hear it call?



The male Long-tailed Duck was seen, loosely associating with c60 Tufted Duck, and the Red-necked Grebe was with a group of 8 Great Crested Grebes. Also, 4+ Common Goldeneye, 5+ Pied Wagtail and just a single Fieldfare were noted.

Long-tailed Duck with Tufted Ducks

At Staines Moor late afternoon, 3 Short-eared Owls were still along the east side, and an hour or so spent spotlighting for Woodcock after dark produced 10-15 Common Snipe (H) in the floods.