Colder But Clearer

 No fog this morning which meant that Alan Shorrock and I could make the short trip over the county border to Eyebrook Reservoir. Although it stayed dry it was also cloudy and so light conditions were not as good as they might have been. We failed to find the Ring-necked Duck on this occasion though it was apparently seen by others.

Whooper Swans

Water levels at the res are fairly low at the moment which has left a lot of mud exposed, this seems to suit dabbling ducks well and there were good numbers present. Also here in good numbers were Tufted Ducks and we searched through the diving multitudes looking for that Ring-necked. Shozzer struck first with a brief sighting of a redhead Smew that I couldn't get on to before it disappeared. I made up for this a little later on by finding two drake and one female Red Crested Pochards feeding close to the plantation shore. A first winter drake and two female Scaup were also noted though they were hard to pick up at times as they fed actively.

Pintail and Shovellers

While searching through the ducks loud bugling calls announced the arrival of seven Whooper Swans which landed close to the Stoke Dry carpark. Three others soon joined them and all ten stayed close together as they swam up towards the sharp end. After about an hour the birds became more restless and left soon afterwards heading north. Not too much else here to report apart from several drake Pintails which looked as elegantly attractive as ever.

Bramblings

We made a short visit to Harrington Airfield after this in search of some of the Bramblings which have been seen here recently. Our efforts were rewarded with the sighting of half a dozen feeding on Ash keys. A further group were noted in another Ash but these were overshadowed by a distant flock of something approaching a hundred near the nature conservation area. Poor light hampered my photographic efforts but I did get a few record shots of  some of the closer ones. The only other birds of interest seen during our short stay was a flock of twenty nine Golden Plovers that flew over soon after our arrival.