I was out with Roger today and
we went straight to Normanton where there had been a Great Northern Diver found
late yesterday. We began walking towards
the church and I saw what I thought was the diver just off shore but it
dived. After a short wait it surfaced
and we were able to identify it as a first-winter. We watched it for some time and I managed to
get a few photos in very poor light before it went to other side of the church
and we decided to leave. There was also
a Kingfisher, which flew low over the water and beyond the church.
First-winter Great Northern Diver off Normanton
We drove to the Old Hall where
there had been a Long-tailed Duck yesterday but after a good hours search we
were unable to find it. We did find the
female Red-breasted Merganser and female Common Scoter but the only other birds
of note were three Little Egrets.
A Long-tailed Duck had been
faithful to the north arm last winter so we thought we would have a look for it
there. Again there was no sign but we
did see the Black-necked Grebe and seven Barnacle Geese. There was also eight Little Egrets feeding
around the edges of the water and a first-winter Little Gull was observed
briefly.
Teal and Tufted Duck over the north arm
First-winter Great Black-backed Gull over the north arm
First-winter Great Black-backed Gull over the north arm
After lunch we walked to
shoveler hide on lagoon three where there was a Ruff, three Green Sandpipers
and fourteen Redshanks and also two male and two female Red-crested
Pochard. There was also another three
Little Egrets but little else of note.
Green Sandpiper on lagoon three
Green Sandpiper on lagoon three
A brief visit to lapwing hide
but there was very little and no sign of the Long-tailed Duck. Three Curlew were observed flying to the
south and were probably in the area of the wet meadow.
Great Crested Grebe from lapwing hide
Robin from footpath to lapwing hide
Tim Appleton, the Reserve
Manager, wanted to see me about the location of a hide I had agreed to
sponsor. Roger and I took a look at
where he thought would be a good position, which overlooked the reed-bed on
lagoon three. It would be raised higher
to give a good views of the reed-bed and some of lagoon three and would also
have wheelchair access. The project will
start in the new year and hopefully be finished prior to the breeding season.
Our final port of call was
lagoon four for the pre-roost gulls.
When we got in the hide the gulls were not in their normal position,
which may have been due to a small hide erected on the west bank in an attempt
for John Wright to read some ring numbers.
Whilst the gulls were perhaps
a little further away the light was better and so, still allowed a good view of
them. I soon picked up an adult Caspian
Gull and an adult Glaucous Gull dropped in whilst the light was still good and
a second adult Caspian was found. The
gulls were clearly more restless and many departed early for the main water and
as the light began to fade we decided to call it a day.
An unusual sight during November was a female
Migrant Hawker close to plover hide.
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