More Ice.

The reservoir is now about three quarters iced over. Today I had at least 46 Great Crested grebes, also present 40 Wigeon,20 Pochard and 6 Little grebe. A single male Shoveler and the juv. Scaup. Only a scattering of gulls this afternoon in the roost until the fog rolled in. Ringing on the rough was succesful with a total of 31 birds, including 2 Reed buntings and 3 Goldfinch. News for the 22 December included two flocks of Golden plover, about 60 birds in total, all heading S.W. and 12 Teal on the res. 3 Goosander flew over on the 21 December.

The first ice.

Both arms of the res. had areas of ice this morning. No rarities, but 28 Wigeon, 3 Shoveler, 3 Teal, 1 Kingfisher and 2 Lesser Redpoll. Also a group of 9 Little Grebe and 34 Great crested grebes. A disappointing gull roost with 20 Common gull and afew hundred B.H. Gulls.

Geese?

D.W had a flock of grey geese flying south west over the village at about 9am. I then had a family group of 7 grey geese flying north east over the reservoir at 1 p.m. I did not think they were Greylag and the head seemed large in relation to a short neck. The juv. Scaup was again present this morning, but could not be found when I watched the gull roost at 3.30 pm. 23 Common gulls and 1 L.B.B. amongst the Black headeds.

Memorise of a great weekend.

I thought this photo taken by Jen would bring back memorise of the Rosefinch twitch in September. Everything looks so green and it does make me realise how fortunate I am to look over this bit of habitat. It has also taken me this long to work out how to add a photo to my blog!

Lapwings.

Lapwing numbers have increased with 95 resting on the dam at 4pm. A single Scaup is still present and was within photograph range of the main car park. An adult and first winter Herring gull were in the gull roost.

Scaups at Thornton

Although there was no sign of the Scaup this a.m. when I went to look at the gull roost at 3.30 , two juvenile Scaup were present, feeding in the central area of the res. Very few Scaup have been rung in the U.K. but those that have demonstrate a strong link to Iceland. (Migration atlas). The flock of Lapwing is also increasing with about 50 birds on the dam and a fly over flock of about 100.

Scaup at Thornton

Although no rare gulls appeared in the gull roost at least I did manage to find a juvenile Scaup today, which was still present when I left at 4pm. The bird was viewable from the car park and was feeding in the central area of the res. Some quick phone calls enabled all 3 tossers, ( members of Thornton Ornithological Society ) to see the bird and I think it was a site tick for R.M. Hopefully the bird will stay around for tomorrow and we can grab some photos. Also present today was a Ruddy duck and the usual Wigeon and Gadwall.