Saturday November 20 - Twitching and roaming

 It is symptomatic of my recent disinclination to twitch that when Dave phoned me about a Ferruginous Duck which he and Graham Rowling had found at Marsh Lane GP this morning, he was surprised to discover I was keen to see it. 

I'm not entirely sure why I wanted to see it either. For about ten years I regularly frequented Marsh Lane GP while I lived in Birmingham. But once Lyn and I moved to Redditch I soon stopped going altogether. My last visit there was 10 years ago, but my last Ferruginous Duck anywhere was in 2006. 

I arrived to find the finders and five or six others crammed into the River Hide waiting for the bird to reappear. The problem was that it was too close. The hide is set back from a well vegetated edge of reed mace and other aquatic plants, and the Ferruginous Duck was spending most of its time hidden from view.

We didn't have to wait long to see it, but getting a satisfactory shot was proving challenging. Too difficult for me anyway. Further moans were the poor light, and the bird's refusal to lift its tail except on the briefest of occasions, thus hiding its gleaming white undertail coverts. It was a female, so no white eye.

Ferruginous Duck - female

The above is my least duff shot, giving an impression of the domed head shape and rather chocolate brown flanks, breast, and ear-covert/loral region. The general feeling was that this was the bird which had been at Belvide for a week or so until November 16. Most published photographs of that bird were taken in sunshine, which is probably why it looked brighter than it did today.

One or two other birds were noteworthy. Two drake Mandarins were apparently new for my now defunct Marsh Lane list, a Little Egret, a Sparrowhawk, a Cetti's Warbler, and a Great Black-backed Gull also made it to the notebook.

One of the Mandarins

Great Black-backed Gull sitting centre stage

The Great Black-backed Gull was certainly a year tick (for shame). 

Let's scroll back from all this twitching nonsense. Yesterday I decided to explore a small area exactly 10  kilometres due north of the house, and I made a discovery. Parking in Drakes Cross I walked westwards to a small fishing pool which was fenced off and devoid of birds. From there I followed a series of footpaths which led me to what I initially took to be a large garden pond. But I subsequently blundered onto a football field and realised I had found the fabled Wythall Park. It's not marked on an Ordnance Survey Map, but I was aware it existed because of a series of wildfowl counts in recent WMBC Annual Reports.

Any patch of water within the Circle is worth a look, even this one. Apart from over 50 Black-headed Gulls, and 20 or so Canada Geese, it contained a few Mallard, four Coot, some Moorhens, a Grey Heron, and a female Tufted Duck. Oh, and a Black Swan.

I will probably pay another visit at some stage, but it may be a while. 

I still think exploring beats twitching any day of the week.