The water levels at Foxcote Reservoir are as low as I've seen them for at least a couple of years, but despite this the number of wildfowl is impressive. Doing my monthly WEBS count this afternoon there were 473 wigeon, 461 coot, 427 lapwing, 55 gadwall, 51 mallard, 32 teal, 20 tufted duck, 15 shoveler, 11 mute swan, 8 moorhen, 2 great crested grebe, 2 goldeneye (fem) and 1 greylag goose.
I'm assuming the low numbers of tufted duck, great crested grebe and absence of pochard are due to lower water levels. Despite the abundance of exposed mud, the only wader I could find (except for the roosting lapwing) was a single green sandpiper.
As I left at 17:15, gull numbers were building but I counted 635 black-headed gull, 35 LBB gull and 7 common gull.
Bill Parker