I fancied looking at waterbirds today, and within the Circle that meant Earlswood Lakes. It was a rather cloudy morning, but the threatened heavy showers never materialised.
Since joining the Earlswood Bird News Whatsapp Group a month ago I've been keeping an eye open for anything unusual there, but there hasn't been much to encourage a visit.
A couple of hours around Engine Pool produced the long-staying Pintail, and the summering Wigeon. I can't say for certain that they are of captive origin, but they were certainly happy to keep company with the human-tolerant Mallards.
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| Pintail |
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| Wigeon |
Also very photogenic were a number of juvenile Grey Wagtails, and a female Tufted Duck with brood.
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Tufted Duck and surviving brood |
The only unexpected birds were two juvenile Little Grebes swimming together in the middle of the lake. They looked slightly different from one another, so I concluded that they may be from two different broods, and were probably hatched elsewhere.
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| The Little Grebes |
The recent dry weather has produced a small edge in some parts of the lake, but I didn't see any waders. There is a new Gull identification book on the market, and it looks pretty good. At least one Yellow-legged Gull has been seen here recently, so I stopped to look at a group of large gulls. I now realise I need to get that book, because when it comes to moulting large gulls in late summer, I'm pretty clueless.
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| Canada Goose, Herring Gulls, a LBBGull, and maybe something else |
I got back to the car, and wondered whether the ObsIdentification App would help. I tried it on the other photographs shown and it passed with flying colours (but I knew what they were anyway). Then I tried it on the right hand gull in the above picture. It said 67% Yellow-legged Gull, 33% Herring Gull. Then I tried zooming in to its head only. It said 97% Caspian Gull. Good grief.
So I won't be using the app on any more birds. I'll use my own judgment, which is 100% unsure.
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