The Deskbound Birder: Tufted Duck

Showing posts with label Tufted Duck. Show all posts

Monday, 23 December 2019

Slimbridge WWT - 23rd December

On a beautiful sunny day I spent a couple of hours at Slimbridge WWT between my Christmas chores. I spent my time along the east side of the reserve. From the Rushy Hide there were nine Snipe, 12 Bewick's Swan and good numbers of Pochard and Tufted Duck. Out on the marsh there were large numbers of Lapwing, Golden Plover, 53 Bewick's Swan, 22 Ruff, two Common Crane and large numbers of Wigeon, Pintail and Teal. I then visited the rather stunning new Estuary Tower Hide when on the estuary were eight Pink-footed Goose and 56 Barnacle Goose. It was soon time to head off for my Christmas shopping duties.

My ebird checklist can be viewed here.

Bewick Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Eurasian Teal - Slimbridge WWT

Northern Lapwing - Slimbridge WWT

Shelduck - Slimbridge WWT

Lapwing, Golden Plover and Bewisk's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Golden Plover - Slimbridge WWT

Common Crane - Slimbridge WWT

Tufted Duck - Slimbridge WWT

Barnacle Goose - Slimbridge WWT

Blue Tit - Slimbridge WWT

Friday, 22 February 2019

Slimbridge WWT - 22nd February

We were at our cottage in Cowley in the Cotswolds for Sarah's birthday weekend and as Sarah was at the spa with her girlfriends on the Friday and Tobias had a play date with cousins and so I did the decent thing and headed to Slimbridge for a few hours. It was a warm day with hazy sunshine and I spent my time in the hides along the eastern side of the reserve. Here are a few images from the morning.

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Pair of Pintail, the drakes were avidly displaying today - Slimbridge WWT

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Shelduck were seen mating and nest prospecting - Slimbridge WWT

Tufted Duck were actively displaying - Slimbridge WWT

Redshank, Ruff, Wigeon and Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Great-crested Grebe - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan. The last Bewick's were seen on 27th February. I counted 70

at the reserve today mainly on Tack Piece - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Lots of aggression amongst the Greylag Geese today - Slimbridge WWT

Greylag Geese - Slimbridge WWT

Greylag Goose - Slimbridge WWT

The highlight of the morning was the flock of around 150 Greater White-fronted Goose which showed very well on the Tack Piece. Most were still gathered in their family groups with the ganders looking particularly fine - Slimbridge WWT

Greater White-fronted Goose - Slimbridge WWT

I ran the moth trap at the cottage on the Friday and Saturday night but it was a little chilly and I caught only four species as below.

Pale Brindled Beauty

March Moth

Common Quaker

Hebrew Character

Monday, 14 January 2019

Pennington Marsh - 9th January

Tobias returned to school today after his Christmas break and I took the opportunity, after drop off, to have a quick wander at Pennington Marsh. It was a glorious sunny and mild winters day and it was a pleasure to be out and about. I stopped at the corner at Lower Pennington Lane and scanned the marshes, much of the water was frozen and there were relatively few birds but a flock of around 250 Golden Plover were resplendent in the mornings sunshine. Otherwise, there were around 18 Common Snipe, 150 Lapwing and a handful of Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon but not a lot else. I then wandered out to the sea wall where scanning to sea produced six Red-breasted Merganser and a similar number of Eider. Walking west along the seawall there were good numbers of wildfowl on the lagoons with many of the Teal and Pintail displaying in the sunshine and the Wigeon whistling away. At Fishtail Lagoon I paused and scanned the masses of wildfowl present, many of the birds seemed to be sleeping and soaking up the sunshine, a welcome break from a long series of overcast and rather chilly days. There were at least ten Reed Bunting in the bushes, the males just starting to show a hint of their summer plumage as the duller winter feather fringes wear away to reveal their brighter basal colouration which forms their breeding plumage. At Keyhaven Lagoon there were around 30 Tufted Duck and a similar number of Coot and after a bit of a scan I located the 1st winter male Scaup which has been present since 29th December. The bird was initially asleep but showing at fairly close range but after a few minutes it awoke and began to feed, the sullied flanks and pale scaling on the breast and rump/ventral area identifying the bird as a first winter. This was a site tick for me, not bad for the first visit of the year. The time was ticking on and I needed to get into the office, a quick scan of Efford Lagoon produced little but a Chiffchaff was calling and showed briefly in the car park.