NDC

Returned to North Duffield Carrs today...thought the Great Skua might pop in...it didn't! When I left Holmpton it was lovely, when I reached the Carrs it was awful and stayed that way.

As I opened the flap on the Geoff Smith hide I was amazed to see so many Mute Swans...

..I counted 62. The reason became clear shortly afterwards as they were observed eating Bulrushes. They would nibble the heads, dip them in the water, then swallow the seeds. I've never seen this behaviour before.

Eventually I managed to find a couple of Whoopers amongst them...

A rare digi-scoped shot lol

The chap next to me then picked out a redhead Smew on Bubwith Ings...nice 1. Frustrating for yours truly as it wasn't on NDC...so no tick! It would have been my 150th!! I've had this situation before with a Green-winged Teal. Guess it depends on your parameters. Is your recording area fixed by a boundary or is it as far as you can see from it? Mine is the former.

Never mind.

I did record my second Treecreeper for the Carrs ( first 10/12/05) a while later. A familiar face then arrived Karl Dutton. Always nice to see him. We shared "war wound" stories briefly. He also told me about his fantastic trip to Spitzbergen.

I left around 3 as the weather got even worse...if that were possible.

35 species recorded.