A dull day....gloomy and overcast and that funny light that isn't great. However, thought I had better zoom over to site to see what was happening....
Despite the thaw there is still a reasonable amount of ice around and the birds seem to be making the most of it....heres a fine scene at Middle Pit....
....mostly Shovelers....but a few Black-headed Gulls....
There were around 90 or so Shoveler, the most I think I have seen at Whetsted, I'm pretty sure it wont be long before they move on....3 Common Gulls soon moved off....
....feeding time...
Shoveler posse round up some food....
I found one of the female Goldeneyes on Middle Pit....55 Lapwing flew over....then bumped in to PD who confirmed he had seen two females there. Always nice to find PD at the pits as always a good chat assured....
The Teal numbers have reduced and I probably found around 40....still a pretty heady number for here. 3 Wigeon were snoozing but soon relocated to West Pit.
I soon fund the Smew pair at the west end of Middle Pit where they seem to spend a lot of time, they did briefly fly and landed near the Shovelers that were located toward the east end, but they swam back west.
Smew, male and female....and female Goldeneye
Male Smew....looking good....
Still looking good....impressing the birds...
On West Pit a Little Egret was waiting for a mid morning snack....and the male Goldeneye was having some down time from the girls...
Male Goldeneye
Wigeon
Over the north side of the site the Fieldfares and Starlings must have been feeding in one of the fields....they appeared in one of the trees with the usual loud cacaophony....fabulous....
Starlings and Fieldfares
The Buzzards have been mostly vocal of late....today 2 appeared at the east end of the site wheeling over one of the south fields...
Wheeling Buzzard
Hi Graham,
ReplyDeletePleased to hear the Smew are still present. Looking to make a visit myself in the next couple of days. Might even bump into you.
K.