Thursday to Friday October 20 - 21 - Earlswood rarities

 I'll start this post with yesterday afternoon's twitch to Earlswood. It was a "mum" day, so naturally a bird turned up which I needed for my #LocalBigYear list. Well, actually three birds, specifically three Common Scoters.

I arrived at about 14.30 to find the finder John Oates watching the birds on Terry's Pool. 

Common Scoters

Very nice too. I left fellow twitchers Janet and Ashley to enjoy them and scurried back home.

This morning I had decided to visit Earlswood again, and as I got into the car the phone alerted me to a first for Earlswood (for everyone). It was John Oates again and the birds were a pair of RCPs.

So I arrived and scanned the Engine Pool for the birds in question. If you haven't worked it out, I was looking for a pair of Red-crested Pochards. 

Red-crested Pochards

The massive irony is that I saw the species at Arrow Valley Lake in May (the first for there), so I've now seen three RCPs and no Common Pochards in my recording area this year.

The Engine Pool has been further drained leaving an ample shoreline. Unfortunately wader passage has largely ended, so it was left to 18 Teal to make the most of the new feeding opportunities. There were the usual gulls and geese, plus two first-winter Common Gulls.

Common Gull

Now that I am retired I spoke to other birders of my generation and beyond, including John S, Janet, John C, Tony P, and John O, all enjoying the tick.

We were obviously hoping the Red-crested Pochards would stay, and they looked pretty settled swimming around the middle of Engine Pool. But looks were deceptive, and though no-one saw them actually go, they could not be found after 9.30am.

I wandered to Terry's Pool logging at least 17 Shovelers, and 15 Tufted Ducks before the rain set in. About 100 Woodpigeons, and 30 or so Redwings were evidence that some onward passage was taking place, and I also heard a few Skylarks and Meadow Pipits before a Brambling called as it flew west.

Sadly the rain really pepped up, and although it eased a bit by late morning, a further pulse had me packing up without visiting Windmill Pool or seeing anything else of any significance.

Come nightfall I decided to put my garden moth trap out. Within a couple of hours the rain had returned and I shut it down. It contained four moths, including a Merveille du Jour and my first Black Rustic for a couple of years. By 10 pm the rain had stopped and I decided to resume mothing. The following morning (Saturday morning) it contained 13 moths of eight species, the best being a Grey Shoulder-knot (nfy), and a Large Wainscot (second for garden and for year).