Grey Phalarope

On 15/10 a Grey Phalarope was found at Pitsford Reservoir so as soon as I was available, I made the effort to go & see it. This was a species I've never really got round to seeing in the county I guess, as bad as it sounds! There have been several in my lifetime but for one reason or another I've never caught up with one.

So on Saturday (18/10) I headed to the dam end of Pitsford with the bird having been reportrd the previous day I was hopeful it was still about. Walking along the dam produced a slightly late & ridiculously tame Wheatear and another migrant in the shape of a Garganey (shocking photo below!) with Teal at the southern end.

I walked along the southern edge of the reservoir, right the way around the Moulton Grange Bay and the other side of the pines; a long old walk! The Grey Phalarope was thankfully viewable from here but along the northern edge of the reservoir and was therefore ridiculously distant! I lingered a while just in case it made it's way towards me but sadly not. Oh well! Managed to find a female Stonechat around here and on the walk back to the car the 2 Ruddy Shelduck were chilling at the mouth of Moulton Grange bay with Canada Geese. A pretty decent morning's haul really!

The next day (Sunday 15/10), I met up with Dave James for the first time in what seemed like ages! We gave Harrington Airfield a bit of a going over in the hope we'd find the recently reported Short Eared Owl. Sadly no Owl and actually sweet F all in general! We then gave the southern field of nearby Blueberry Farm a going over but was probably in truth a little early in the day for any owls.

Dave had seen the Phalarope at Pitsford at point blank range earlier in the day so we decided to have another look with me keen to get some decent photos. After a bit of a walk to the small bay beyond Pintail Bay we were treated to incredible views of the juvenile Grey Phalarope coming to within 10 feet or so; a complete contrast to the previous day! After blasting it with the camera for half an hour or so, we headed home. Brilliant end to the day!