It was cool (frozen water), dull, misty and murky and the visibility was rubbish. This didn't fill me with much confidence but I thought I'd give it a bash!
There was lots of birds but it was hard work given the above and I didn't bother to try counting many of the species present as it was a bit too daunting a task!
I managed the following at Thorganby: 326 Lapwing, 4 Redshank, 32 Curlew, 107 Dunlin, 18 Ruff, 45 Golden Plover, 1 Cormorant, 5 Black-headed Gull, 2 Red-legged Partridge plus Fieldfare, Redwing, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Wood Pigeon, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Carrion Crow, Rook and Jackdaw.
Moving down to North Duffield Carrs (Geoff Smith Hide) there was plenty of birds, possibly more than were present on Friday, they were all very tightly packed at the back of the waterbody due to most of the water being frozen but as at Thorganby the weather was the main hindrance. I did manage to count a couple of species managing the following:
98 Whooper Swan, 45 Mute Swan, 1 Black Swan, 30 Tufted Duck, 6 Shoveler, 32 Pochard, 45 Shelduck, plus several hundred Canada and Greylag Geese and thousands of Wigeon and Teal with a good number of Pintail and Mallard with several Coot and Moorhen recorded too. A fly through vocal Kingfisher was a good bonus. Most of the Whooper Swans were on the water, with the majority of the Mutes in the fields opposite the car park.
Mute and Whooper Swans © Andreas Trepte 2011
News from further north up the valley included a juvenile Glaucous Gull and an adult Caspian Gull.
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