It all started last weekend on Sunday (08/12) with Dave James and Jon & Kirsty Philpott at Grafham Water. Target was the female type Velvet Scoter, as well as anything else that might be around. We began scanning from Mander Car Park where I soon sound the female type Long Tailed Duck distantly with Tufted Ducks. A good start!
We moved around to one of the hides overlooking the area that the Scoter apparently frequented. Despite good numbers of Goldeneye, Little Grebe and a Green Sandpiper, there was no sign of the scoter. On leaving the hide Dave thought he may have seen it fly in and this was confirmed when a birder came down the path and told us it had indeed flew in. After a couple of minutes I managed to pick out the Velvet Scoter alongside a Great Crested Grebe. We all watched it for some time until it flew up towards the dam. Mission success! Very ropey photos below:
We headed back to Northampton,to Ecton SF. We however saw very little other than a couple of Chiffchaff.
On Tuesday (10/12) I went to Boddington Reservoir in the late afternoon to have a look what was about, and to have a good look through the gull roost. There were at least 4 Goosander kicking about, however on the whole it was rather quiet. Best of the rest including a very vocal Willow Tit busily feeding away in the car park and a Little Owl briefly sat in one of the nearby oaks at dusk.
What was initially IDed as a Yellow-Browed Warbler was found at a private site in the north of the county on 06/12. On closer scrutiny it amazingly turned out to be a Hume's, the Yellow-browed's far rarer relative, wow big news! Access was limited to the site, however arrangements were made for Wednesday (11/12). Myself, Dave James & Sam Candy headed there and even before our allotted 1pm slot, we had already got decent views of a tiny Hume's Leaf Warbler, a lifer for all three of us, BOOM! Over the next hour we enjoyed excellent views at times, with it also calling frequently. After getting our fill of the bird we headed to the pub for a celebratory pint, car-ticking a Great White Egret while driving over the Pitsford Reservoir causeway!
I'd seen recently that a Cattle Egret was regularly being seen near to Buckingham and so early yesterday afternoon (Saturday 14/12) I had a bit of spare time to catch up with it. It soon appeared distantly in one of the cattle fields, however gaining views was really tricky due to a big thick hedge between me and the bird. After a little while some distant shooting spooked the bird, however this worked out just great as it flew to the other side of the road to it's 'favourite' muddy cattle field in full view. I enjoyed brilliant views of it for a good while, before eventually heading home feeling very chuffed. Out of the now 4 Cattle Egrets I've seen, these were by far the best views I'd had.
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