Dave, Ken, Roger and I were off to Crossens Outer Marsh today where we would hopefully all have a new bird, a Baikal Teal.
Dave and Ken arrived at my house and we then picked up Roger on route setting off on the 130 mile journey. We arrived at Crossens just before 09:30 and after parking and getting the gear on, having a Sparrowhawk flash quite close to us, we walked the short distance along the footpath to overlook the marsh. There were some birders coming back as we walked out but they said that it had not been seen as yet. As we approached the viewing area many birds took to flight and we saw masses of Wigeon and Teal and several Black-tailed Godwits. On arrival there were three distinct groups of birders assembled on the bank and there was some talk of that it had been seen and the first group were scoping and wet area to the south. It wasn’t too long before news percolated down the line that it was on view and we were then all watching the bird as it fed in some shallow water. We watched it for over an hour and it was surprising how it could easily disappear amongst the Wigeon and could at time be difficult to find. It didn’t appear to be in full breeding plumage as the facial pattern lacked the black vertical stripe below the eye, although there was a suggestion that it was partially there. The rest of the plumage did look pretty much as I expected.
Whilst we were at the sight we also several Pink-footed Geese, a couple of drake Pintail, a Merlin, numerous Golden Plovers, circa seventy Dunlin, a Ruff and several Black-tailed Godwits.
Pink-footed Geese
With the teal getting more
distant we decided to go to the RSPB reserve, Marshside. We parked and had a look around both the
fresh marsh and the salt marsh.
There was a screen just over
the road form where we had parked that overlooked an area of shallow lagoons
and flooded grassland. There were masses
of Wigeon with smaller numbers of Teal and also several Pintail and Shoveler
and Pink-footed Geese were commuting between here and the salt marsh. On the other side of the road I counted
sixteen Ruff and there was a single Barnacle Goose amongst a party of Canada
Geese.
Near the parking area there
was a hill that gave a good view over the salt marsh but most birds were quite
distant with only Little Egrets and Pink-footed Geese being relatively close.
We returned to the car for some lunch and whilst doing so were able to scope
the shore where numerous waders were being pushed up by the incoming tide. Most appeared to be Knot but we also saw
several Grey Plover and Curlew and a party of circa forty Oystercatcher. Roger also found a Merlin perched some
distance away.
It was clear that the birders
on the other side of the road where observing something from the screen, so we
went and checked it out. There was an
immature Long-tailed Duck just in front of the screen, which almost certainly a
male, that provided a nice end to our visit.
Pink-footed Goose
Pink-footed Goose
Probable juvenile male Long-tailed Duck
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