Baikal Teal

Greylake, Somerset 

I had the day off do I thought I would give the Baikal Teal another go as I dipped 2 Sundays ago but only had 1 hour on that attempt. Sadly, I spent 4 cold hours waiting with no joy. However, good views of a pair of Bearded Reedling, a Water Rail a few Western Marsh Harrier and a Great Egret. I'm sure the Baikal Teal won't be going anywhere for a while so I will give it another go soon. 

Western Marsh Harrier 

North Curry, Somerset 

On the way home I quickly pulled into a lay by just when you get on to the minor road from the A361 and managed quick bin views of 2 Whooper Swan.

Whooper Swan 

Great Egret And Whooper Swan

Greylake, Somerset
A very rare occurrence happened today. I had a few hours to myself. So I popped across the border in hope of the Garganey. After a decent search, I was unable to locate.I did see a few Great Egret, Common Shipe and Northern Pintail.

Curry Moor, Somerset
Despite some closed roads due to flooding I managed to find a spot to look for the Whooper Swans. After a bit of a look I was able to positively ID 2 birds as they were incredibly distant, even for the scope.

Winter Wildfowl Spectacle

Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
I had my annual winter visit to the WWT centre today. I do love visiting at this time of year to witness the wildfowl spectacle. My target was the Holden Hide as this gives a good viewpoint of the reserve and you can usually get all the main species the reserve has to offer. From the hide there were large groups of (Bewick’s) Tundra Swan, Whooper Swan, Greater White-fronted Goose, and Greylag Goose, there were a decent number of Barnacle Goose but they were always very distant as were the 7 Common Crane that were on site. 2 Peregrine Falcon were again distant and hunkering on the ground from the wind, From the Martin Smith hide were 2 Ruff. There were also 3 Pink-footed Goose on site and I wasn’t sure if they were captive or not. Either way, they were a welcome site.

Pink-footed Goose 

(Bewick’s) Tundra Swan

Common Moorhen  

Greylag Goose

Greater White-fronted Goose

Whilst onsite it had a look around the captive enclosures so I could brush up on those rarer species that turn up in the UK including some of those mega American diving Ducks.

Ruddy Shelduck (Female)

Goldeneye (Male)

Common Goldeneye (Female)

Lesser White-fronted Goose

Common Eider (Male and Female) 

Red-breasted Goose 

Snow Goose

Smew (Male)

Canvasback (Male)

Redhead (Male)

Cackling Goose

Bufflehead (Male)

Barrow’s Goldeneye (Male)

Greater Scaup (Male)

Lesser Scaup (Male)

Ring-necked Duck (Male)

Westhay Moor, Somerset
On the way home I popped here in the hope of a Bearded Reedling. At first the place seemed devoid of life but things picked up with a Male Western Marsh Harrier and a Merlin. I heard a few Bearded Reedling but I failed to locate any birds.