Friday October 4

A cloudy morning with a light south-westerly, and some drizzle arriving at 11.00am.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a flock of 50 Redwings heading silently south-west shortly after arriving. Two further small parties (also silent) gave me a day total of 70. This is quite an early record for here, and all the more noteworthy given the numbers.

At the chat field I found a small party of Stonechats, and later added two more in the strip field giving a total of seven for the day.

Stonechat

There were still a few hirundines around, I counted seven Swallows and seven House Martins, and also logged five Chiffchaffs and seven Goldcrests, possibly indicating an arrival of the latter species.

Throughout the morning I had been expecting to hear shotguns going off, but there was not a peep from them. Perhaps the season hasn't started yet. The absence of disturbance was great for wildfowl. A herd of 216 Greylag Geese dominated, with just six Canada Geese. A Sparrowhawk caused the Teal to leave the comfort of the sedge and allowed the count to total 41, along with 14 Shovelers, 80 Mallard, and two Wigeon.

Female Wigeon

Perhaps the most surprising find was a diving duck in the deepest part. I concluded it was a juvenile Tufted Duck although the bill shape had me wondering about a Scaup species until I scoped it and confirmed a hint of a crest and no grey feathers in the mantle.

Juvenile Tufted Duck

It would have been nice if had been something rarer than Tufted Duck. Dream on.

I tweeted a picture of the bird and caused some discussion among local birders with opinions so divided that I thought I'd better go and have another look.

The bird was nowhere to be seen, but it still seems fairly clear that it is indeed just a juvenile Tufted Duck.