Garganey

I received an e-mail, via Lyn, from Mike Lane stating that he had found a drake Garganey on the main pool at 10.00am. I managed to leave work pretty sharpish and tried to let other regulars know about the bird before hurrying to the site by about 6.00pm. Initially the signs were worrying. The bird was not present on the main pool. However, as the sun briefly came out, I located it on the left hand flash.


Garganey

I had left the house in such a rush that I forgot my camera, so I was obliged to sketch it as it initially dabbled on the far side of the flash before apparently becoming alarmed and swimming across the water towards me. It then settled down and started preening.

Thus far, only Matt Wilmott has managed to twitch it, the inclement weather detering Mike and Dave, while John is on holiday in Cornwall.

There have been two previous records at the site, both eclipse drakes, in July 2007 and August 2008 respectively, but this is the first adult drake to be found. A slightly atypical date, I always imagined a spring bird would be more likely to be found in April. Congratulations and thanks go to Mike Lane for finding it.