Having seen the Waterthrush Thursday whilst Dad was otherwise occupied I volunteered to take him on Friday arriving at first light he gave it a good slog for a couple of hours before the cold and the boredom got the better of him. Jim and I had watched the twitch from a distance to make more room for those that still wanted to see the bird.
We drove around to Abberton and ticked the Velvet Scoters from the church viewpoint having dipped them in the week. The Canvasback eluded us again but with news of the Waterthrush showing again we rushed Dad back and this time he managed to see the bird and we left for home having enjoyed conversation with many locals including Simon Wood who found the bird in his garden on Wednesday.
Saturday saw us walk the local reservoir to add a few more year ticks.
At least 11 Little Grebes were on south Basin with at least three more on the north. A Greater Scaup and Slavonian Grebe were eventually found on South basin and a pair of Peregrine added another year tick. A large flock of Goldfinch included a single Greenfinch for my fifth tick of the day and I picked out a Siskin in the scope for Jim to add that to his total for the year too. Walking back we flushed what looked like a Black Redstart but it flew over the fence and away before we got on it properly.
Lot's of Redwing and Fieldfare were seen in the paddocks along with a few Song Thrush. A Red Kite flew over and two Foxes hunted along the causeway. The reservoirs held good numbers of Coot and Tufted Duck along with several Goldeneye, Pochard, Wigeon, Mallard and Gadwall. Two Grey Wagtails were the only other birds of note before we left. A quick scan of William Girling reservoir from Mansfield Park gave good scope views of three Great Northern Divers.
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| The view from Mansfield park over the Girling |
Year list now 122
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