With the death of the old Octavia, I've been somewhat limited in my birding for the last few days and have been limited to the local patch. Having said that I was able to add a new species to the local list with a solitary Golden Plover calling as it passed over head. A Little Egret has spent the last few days hunched up on the bank of the Lode looking quite miserable! No more sightings of the Water Rails but hopefully they will put in an appearance at some point soon.
While walking along the old sidings this afternoon I was pondering on the lack of Long Tailed Tits this winter. Usually the hedges hold good number of this wonderful little bird but this winter the largest group seen so far has been 9.
Thursday 28th January: Ouse Washes
Picking up the new car so dropped D off at work and went off to the Ouse Washes for a while. The weather was grey and blowing so not the best of conditions....again! Goldeneye and Pintail were located amongst the usual wildfowl as were a good number of Tufted Duck. Amongst them was one female that caught my attention. A number of female present were showing white patches at the base of the bill and had apparent tufts. This female, which was loosely associating with them had a larger white patch at the base of the bill and no apparent tuft. Was it a therefore a Scaup?
 |
| Female Scaup or Tufted Duck |
 |
Size of base of bill patch distinctly greater than other female Tufted
Black tip to bill however looks too great for a Scaup and after enlargement hard to distinguish any other colouration on the bill
Having placed the images on Birdforum views are split. Will continue to ponder but without a better sighting this will have to be a question mark!
New Car!! Have bought a Skoda Yeti, so it better be able to take the punishment of the road to Burwell. Will be so glad to get back on the road!
|
No comments:
Post a Comment