Had yesterday morning to have a wander round Ditchford yet again. Was
planning a raid on the female Scaup that had been on Wilson's Pit for a couple
of weeks, though I had my doubts as to how much water would be ice-free with
Em's text from around 6am reading that her car was saying -13 on its
temperature gauge!!
I arrived around 10am in lovely sunshine with next to no wind, however
it was as predicted, pretty bloody cold and low and behold all three pits there
were virtually completely frozen over.
A couple of a very vocal Kingfishers flew past, a Snipe was flushed by a
dog walker, a Marsh Tit showed briefly and several Bullfinches were knocking
around but other than that, there was sweet f*** all to get excited about! The
first lake had a small bit of water available though all there was to see were
a few Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler and Mallard, but sadly attempt 2 for the Scaup
again drew a blank....boooo!
Top to Bottom: Wilson's Pit (Ditchford GPs), Mallard on the ice,
Grey Heron and Mute Swans. 04.02.12
Having already driven past the Ditchford Lane exit of the A45 to get to Wilson's, I noticed there were bloody tonnes of Gulls on the ice of the watersports pit so this had to be next on the hitlist.
I parked up and thought I'd try the fishing lake first as this tactic has
served me well in the past.
There were at least 3 Red Kites showing stupidly well over the fields to
the right of the lake and were spooking the Gulls a tad, as was a nearby
Buzzard. Would you believe it, no more than 5 seconds of scanning through the
Gulls on the ice there and there was a stunning looking 2nd-winter Iceland Gull
standing out like a sore thumb! I watched that for a bit, watching a Herring
Gull taking a real dislike to it, chasing it round the lake, though I didn't
mind as it gave me a chance to have a real good look at it in flight. Rattled
off a few cheeky shots, dicing with frostbite in the process:
2nd-winter Iceland Gull Ditchford GPs 04.02.12
After that top start, the Watersports pit had to be the next destination. It was still groaning with Gulls. I approached a lone birder watching the pit to find it was Dave James frozen to the spot, a birding mate of mine.
We scanned the pit several times but unbelievably we couldn't find
anything of note. Finally though Dave found a 2nd-winter Iceland Gull having a
bath on the ice-free water at the back of the pit. The same one from the
fishing lake or another, very hard to tell tbh! I then picked up a handsome
drake Smew associating with a flock of 7 Goldeneye not far from the Iceland.
After a while we went down to Viaduct pit and the pit the other side of the
railway, though nothing new.
Red Kite cruising past the Gull paradise that is the Watersports Pit. 04.02.12
So we had one last scan of the Watersports pit. Not long after, Dave picked up first one then not long after two 2nd-winter Glaucous Gulls at the back of the pit. Happy days! Both showed really nicely and soon we re-found the Iceland Gull again preening on the ice.
A wader then flew over heading east. I quickly managed to get it in the
scope to find it was a Black Tailed Godwit of all things! Not quite sure what
he was doing loafing round here but there we go. It slowly circled round and
landed by the pit slightly out of view. Again managed a few average shots with
the iphone. probably would have taken better ones and more of them, though it
meant battling through the pain barrier with taking your hands out of your
gloves for more than 30 seconds and your hands were in agony!! Dave did make a very
valid point, we wouldn't see these white wingers in the heat!
Top to Bottom: 2nd-winter Glaucous Gull (first and second), 2nd-winter Iceland Gull and view of one of the frozen pits
After all that it was home time and time to defrost!
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