Dress rehearsal

This weekend the clocks go back forward, and despite my longer working day I should be able to get out birding in the evening.

Today I had the opportunity to see how that might pan out. I had taken the day off for the very sad reason of attending the funeral of Dave, a friend and former work colleague of Lyn's. The humanist ceremony took place in Shrewsbury and we returned home by late afternoon. There was just time to get to the patch for the last hour before it was too dark to see anything.

The light wasn't great. Heavy cloud and a chilly easterly wind suggested little would be seen. With no news at all since Sunday I had assumed that the Green-winged Teal had gone. Not so.

Still here

It was literally the first bird I looked at when I got to the flash. Another photo in the bag. After that it became apparent that there was actually very little change from Sunday. I counted 48 Teal, 39 Mallard, 22 Greylag Geese, nine Canada Geese, three Green Sandpipers, and two Little Ringed Plovers. I also spotted a female Gadwall, which is presumably the bird present earlier this month.

A Chiffchaff called, and on my way out the Tawny Owl was visible in its tree.

Next week might not be too bad after all.