Better view desired

News came on the pager yesterday morning that the drake Smew was showing again at Fairburn Ings from Lindike Hide. Maybe closer? 3rd time lucky? Definitely my last attempt.

Couldn't resist.

I'd failed to check the weather forecast which saw me battling through an incredible blizzard on the M62. Fortunately it had passed by the time I reached FI. I made the short walk to the hide and began to scan. You can see a good distance over the water from this hide. Thing was I didn't want to see the Smew from a good distance!

Nothing for 30 minutes but a smart pair of Pintail were noteworthy...

Then I spotted...yes...a white speck again. At least I saw it again but it was far from a fulfilling experience I'm afraid...

On the way back to the car I took a few snaps of a Little Egret...

Then I heard a noise by the fence. It was a Mute Swan in obvious difficulty. I reckon it had hit the adjacent wires. I was surprised they didn't have markers on them, especially at an RSPB reserve? I reported it to the Visitor Centre. As I left I bumped into my mate Vince who's a regular at the reserve. Always good to see him. We had a good chat putting the world to rights before I left for home.

...............................

This morning I was up bright and early and made my way down to Kilnsea to see Phil. The pair of Whoopers were reasonably close...

While he was getting ready we watched a Gosney DVD on Florida. Brought back lots of great memories for me of the Everglades and Keys. The section on the Dry Tortugas was excellent, showing great footage of Magnificent Frigatebirds, Sooty Terns and Brown Noddies. The part I wasn't as keen on was when they found 3 Black Noddies, a bird I was hoping to add to my ABA list on the 3 occasions I went there! There was also a good selection of migrating Warblers present on his visit as there was on mine in 2010.

As we were chatting I mentioned I'd tried for the Smew at Fairburn. Then in his understated way he passed me his laptop saying " Here's one I saw at Far Ings a few years back"...

Slightly better than my efforts!!!

We decided to try Snakey Lane as he needed Yellowhammer for his year list. As we passed Kilnsea Wetlands I spotted a Mistle Thrush (S.61) in a bush. We U-turned but it had departed. Once on Snakey we soon found a singing male. Great to see in the sunshine...

Phil mentioned he still needed Grey Partridge, I replied saying I needed Red-legged. I was the lucky one this time...

P.96, H.54