Quiet time of year but...must keep looking!
Yesterday I made the trip to Fairburn Ings to look for one of my favourites. A male Smew. I tried the west end first along Lindyke were it had been seen previously. I bumped into another birder who informed me he hadn't seen it/them (there are 2 redheads present also). I continued under the bridge by the river to check out another couple of ponds but no joy. The Little Egret was nice though...
Then...news on the pager. They'd been seen in Village Bay! On arrival there were a few looking out over the large expanse of water....but no Smew. I decided to set my stall out at the lookout at the southern end of the bay. It was a great view if distant. There were plenty of Goosanders present, great birds, which are always nice to see.
There was an element of Spring in the air...a poor digiscoped effort, but worth sharing I feel...
An hour had passed and still no sign. It was obvious that there were plenty of birds hidden in the bushes on the central island, at least 50 Goosanders amongst them. Then my luck changed albeit briefly as a redhead Smew emerged from the vegetation...
Another poor effort but proof of existence! I never did see the Drake...
This morning I had some exercise at Kilnsea Wetlands/Beacon Ponds. Nothing of note was seen but it was a wonderful morning with clear blue skies. I also had a look along the canal. Workmen are still doing flood defence improvements. I was hoping to add Coot to my patch year list (exciting stuff) but none had turned up yet.
On my way home for lunch I checked out the Tundra Bean Goose on Easington straight. It was still associating with the 3 Pinkfeet.
A rather nice bonus was the 2 adjacent Whoopers...
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