A sunny clear and bitterly cold calm day. Lovely.
A day out today. Well half a day down to Cresswell for a chat with the lads. I think its my first visit down there this year. The water level was high in the pond but there were still a lot of birds on show. Best of all was the female Smew that has wintered here for a few years now. Not one I'll get at Boulmer very easily...
Also on the pond were a pair of Scaup, good numbers of common wildfowl such as Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye. 1 Red breasted Merganser, 2 Shoveler, 8+ Little Grebe and a Whooper Swan added to the interest. 2 male Ruffs were with Redshank on the spit.
2000+ Pink footed Geese with a few Canadas and Greylags were on the fields north of the pond. I picked out a White fronted Goose amongst them, a good year tick for the lads until it stood up revealing itself to be just another Pink foot wearing a good white blaze! There were two birds like this making an easy pitfall for the unwary.
As we left, a tight ball of Starlings up the dunes at Bell's indicated the presence of a predator and we briefly picked up a Peregrine gliding to the ground with one hapless victim.
No visit to Boulmer today, I needed a break.
1 comment:
You did better than me today, took Middle son to Woodhorn, QE2 and Linton for his first proper day birding, got cold and not much else.
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