In my last post I referred to some ducks Sam had seen on Wednesday. These included six Gadwall, a species that hasn't been seen here for a little while. In fact, I was rather slow to realise I haven't seen any here this year. Oops.
So this morning, with a year-tick in mind, I paid a visit. The overcast skies and cold northerly wind were not ideal, but initially things looked promising. The nearest flash was smothered in ducks.
I counted 66 Mallard, four Shoveler, five Wigeon, 25 Teal, and hiding in the grass were at least nine Snipe. But no Gadwall. I heard a rhythmical whump whump sound of wings to my right and looked round to see four Mute Swans circling over the pool field. On my return journey I found that they had returned.
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| Mute Swans |
By now it was starting to rain and I decided to give up. Ironically my best sighting of the morning occurred on the walk back to the road as four Yellowhammers flew out of the hedge bordering the footpath, the highest total this year.
As this was a disappointing visit, I have added a couple of uplifting garden sightings from yesterday, namely the return of a pair of Blackcaps and a Nuthatch which repeatedly returned to the feeder. I managed to get some footage of the female Blackcap as it tucked into an apple on our leaf-strewn lawn. Lyn inadvertently features half way through, her mind on my shopping list, by announcing that she hoped we didn't need butter.
In case you're wondering, we didn't.
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