Saturday 15 February 2014

The Long & the Short of it

The wind was so strong at the Mere on Thursday, we shared cars to Wassand straight away. We were quickly rewarded with a Great Spotted Woodpecker near the cottages followed by a pair of Mistle Thrushes. The walk was very muddy because a lot of logging had been going on, and in places it was nearly impassable. The walk was quite uneventful, with close views of a Wren being one of the highlights! However, we did see a pair of Buzzards over the trees, which split up and each patrolled a different area of trees. In the afternoon on the return journey we had even better views of a pair of Buzzards

Female Long-tailed Duck [right] taken near Svalbard (c) 2012 David Tasker
 Buzzard
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On the return journey in the morning we saw lots of activity among the Long-tailed Tit flock, including Blue and Great Tits. We were then charmed by a confiding Treecreeper. There were more Great Spotted Woodpeckers.
Back at the mere there were plenty of Tufted Ducks, and a few Goldeneyes. Further off there was a single drake Pochard, but it was still very windy.
Wren
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Chris strode to Kirkholme Point and we followed. Here, we spotted a Great Crested Grebe, and then Chris asked me to examine a strange mottled brown and white water bird. He asked if it was a female Long-tailed Duck. Everyone's jaws fell open this was a bird we'd never seen on any course in a decade of classes, and here it was being identified by someone who'd been on the course for only a couple of years. Eventually, the truth emerged. This bird had been pointed out to Chris by experts a few weeks earlier. However, he had remembered what it looked like, and was able to point it out to everyone. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to hold binoculars steady in the strong winds, and it took alarm at 10 people all standing together staring at it, and it flew off to the south into the wind, and away from the shelter of the island. 

1 comment:

Richard Whateley said...

Thursday group continues to get the best of the weather! Great wren pictures Michael.