Thursday 31 March 2011

North Duffield (Evening Visit)

Spent an hour or so in the Garganey Hide this evening, lots and lots of wildfowl on the water. Before I could start scanning them however a large number flew across the reserve due to the attention of a giant of a Peregrine (below).


Peregrine Beast (North Duffield Carrs) [phone-scoped]

The Peregrine didn't catch anything, it made half an attempt at a Teal but didn't look too interested really and then landed and sat there for a fair while allowing great views (not that this can be told from the above photo!).

Teal numbers looked up on my previous visit, but this may in part be down to the water levels continuing to drop and birds been pushed out of cover a bit more. Pintail and Shelduck also seemed up. Other waterfowl included Gadwall, Wigeon, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Mute, Black and Whooper Swan, Greylag and Canada Goose, Coot, Moorhen and at least 4 Little Grebe.

Lapwing were scattered around the reserve in low numbers, along with the odd Redshank, a couple of Oystercatchers and as dusk approached a small flock of Curlew came in to bathe. A single summer-plumaged Black-tailed Godwit looked stunning as it walked about strutting its stuff!

The 'large gulls' didn't materialize tonight though a few Common and Black-headed were noted. I've also not seen the Barn Owl now for a few visits.

The last few days have seen a few more additions to the Garden List, 2x pairs of Shoveler, a dozen Teal and a single Black-tailed Godwit (possibly/probably the same bird at NDCs this evening???).

A visit to a new site today didn't yield too much, not surprising given the gale-force winds, however Cormorant, 14 Oystercatcher and several Meadow Pipits were noted.

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