Sunday 29 November 2009

All set up for winter

Saturday 28th November.

Well, the plan on Friday night was to go to the cup game at Gillingham, via Staines to look at the Brown Shrike. But I've been trying to shake off a heavy cold all week and still felt rather groggy this morning. So just tootled around closer to home.

Uttoxeter Quarry, 11:30 - 13:30.

Oh yes, water, lots of lovely water!


It's already made a difference to the numbers of duck, with higher numbers of Mallard, Wigeon, Teal and a couple of Shoveler. Also a personal site tick in the form of three Ravens. Hopefully the water level will lead to better birding in the winter months ahead, as I was worried a week ago that it could get a bit dull for birding, never mind blogging.

Following some patch work, there's been a Great Northern Diver at Belvide recently, so I thought I'd take a look.


I do realise the picture makes the Diver look more like Nessie, wasn't easy to get a decent picture from the Scott hide in the afternoon gloom. But when not sticking a camera onto the scope the bird was showing well towards the dam. The white notch in the side of the neck, giving the Diver a collar-like appearance, was also noticeable.

2 comments:

Martyn Yapp said...

Excellent stuff, deserves a place on my blog.

Richard Powell said...

Thought you might like that one. Copies are available in exchange for a small fee!