Saving The Best For Last

 Today I fancied a change of scenery and so scrounged a lift over to Blatherwycke Lake from where I walked home taking in Deene and Priors Hall on the way. Although the weather eventually cleared to become almost spring like the birds for the most part owed more to winter. 

Great White Egret and Wigeon

At Blatherwycke I couldn't find any Mandarin Ducks and it's likely that they've dispersed to nearby breeding sites. Wildfowl numbers in general were low with the exception of Wigeons but even they seemed quite restless and they may well be on their way soon. One Pochard was probably the best of the ducks in what has been rather a poor winter locally for them. I was beginning to think that I might have been better staying a little closer to home when a Great White Egret dropped in and gave prolonged if quite distant views. Not much else here apart from a Kingfisher seen several times from the bridge.

Great Crested Grebes and Red Kites

My walk from here to Deene was rather uneventful though I saw a decent sized flock of Yellowhammers near Bulwick and had great views of the local kites. Deene too was pretty dull with just fourteen Shelducks being on show, twelve on the lake and two with a spot of shore leave. Things stayed fairly quiet until I arrived at Priors Hall where the situation improved.

Siskin and Dunnock.

A good sized flock of Siskins and Redpolls were present in one patch of alders and I flushed a Woodcock up from nearby. Whilst checking the large pond I heard a Water Rail squealing from  the depths of the reedbed where a Reed Bunting was also present. Moving on I took the unpleasant walk along the A43 from where I was able to check the quarry lake. Scoping the gulls did not produce any surprises among the many Black-headeds. There was a good sized flock of Lapwings still but no sign of any other waders. While scanning the lake shore I was able to find at least three Pochards though these were soon outdone by the next discovery. Checking the small group of Greylag Geese more out of habit than in expectation delivered a White-fronted Goose swimming with them. It left the water and began to graze before settling down for a brief rest. Judging by the bill colour and the reduced amount of black on its belly I would suggest that it was a young European bird but I'm always happy to be corrected! Given the distances involved I only managed a few record shots of this surprise visitor which also turned out to be the final highlight of my walk.

White-fronted Goose record shots