...whoop-whooper!!

1100 - 1230 cold, sunny becoming overcast, SW f2

With Autumn finally having arrived and the weather seemingly declining toward more wintery, the winter visitors should be increasing......so it was great to see Bewick Swan reported at the pits....though not by me.....with this in mind I finally had a bit of time to pop in to take a look and see if anything was going on....

I reckon around 95% of the water birds are now on the western most pit....a number of Black-headed Gull are on the next largest pit east and its where the Common Gull is at the moment.  But for whatever reason...the western most pit seems to have the big attraction....

Hoping to get a new bird for the site list I was quite excited to find....

Whooper Swan juvenile, Cygnus cygnus

In fact, I found 2 Whooper Swans....excellent.  The one in the picture is the whiter of the two....its possible this means it is an Icelandic bird as they are whiter when juvenile.  The other duller/browner bird is possibly more of Russian origin then.  I'm no expert so don't quote me on that!!

Teal numbers have increased and the other ducks are in good numbers....Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted, Pochard...plenty of Little Grebe present as well...

Of interest I flushed 3 Snipe off the main track, there was plenty of thrush action, good numbers of Blackbirds, Fieldfares, Redwings and one Song Thrush.....a Water Rail was heard...