Ringing In The Changes

 A shock to the system this morning as I had to get used to cooler conditions after a week in the heat of Majorca. I braved the relative chill in the company of Alan Shorrock as we headed over to the Titchmarsh reserve for a look around. Autumn has most definitely kicked in now with a greatly reduced amount of insect activity which for the first time in a long time did not include any butterflies or dragonflies.

Dodgy record shots warning! Ring-necked Duck

Wildfowl starts to become a little more interesting as winter approaches with the numbers and the variety increasing. Reports of a Ring-necked Duck had us scanning the water in front of the north hide. Initially it looked a little unpromising, numbers of duck remain low despite the recent northerly winds and there were only half a dozen Tufted Ducks on view. More scanning eventually produced sightings of the female or immature male Ring-necked though it was distant. We watched it for quite a while though it never got any closer and my photographic efforts were correspondingly feeble. After a bit more squinting through the scopes we moved on.

GWE and Redwing

The rest of the reserve appeared to be rather quiet though there were at least two Great White Egrets on site and my first Redwings of the Autumn were noted. Several Siskins were heard at one point and there seemed to be Skylarks passing through too. We had several more distant encounters with the Ring-necked Duck which yielded some good scope views but no better chances of getting a good pic. Once we had decided to call it quits at Titchmarsh a pit stop at the Dukes Arms seemed like a good way to bring the day to a close.