A drive to Manor Park Sewage Farm near Reading, when we arrived there was already a big crowd of birdwatchers, here to see a Black-winged Pratincole, which had been found on a pool on private land. We were only able to stand in an elevated area overlooking the farmland, but couldn't see into the pools. Every now and again the bird would fly over the fields and back to the pool, so we only got flight views. As expected, a couple of people tried to sneak down to the edge of the pool, but the farmer appeared in a muck-spreader and chased them off along the track, catching them before they made it back, no-one stood near them after that!

While waiting for the pratincole to fly, we had a look around the area we could get to, seeing 4 Grey Wagtails, a Hobby, 2 Kestrels, several Greenshank, a Snipe, a Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpipers, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a Water Vole.

After seeing the pratincole several times in flight, we decided to go to Staines Reservoir where we saw 2 Black-necked Grebes, a few duck, 10+ Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Turnstones, 3 Ruff, a Common Sandpiper and a few Dunlin.

We returned to Manor Park, where a truce had been negotiated with the farmer and he allowed the birdwatchers to go to the rim of the main pool and nowhere else. That was fine, as everyone got good views of the Black-winged Pratincole on the ground, we also saw 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Ruff, 3 Common Sandpipers, a Spotted Redshank, 5 Snipe, a Stonechat and 3 Whinchats.