Alan Shorrock found at least ten Crossbills at Wakerley Wood while I was up in Scotland and I returned there with him this morning hoping to catch up with them. It was a wet start to the day though the rain had all buy eased by the time we reached the woods. Given the weather it was perhaps not surprising that there were few other people wandering about as we began our search.
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| Common Scoters |
The wood was lively with tits and other small birds but it took a while to find the Crossbills. A single bird was heard and then seen as it flew over one of the paths. Minutes later a minimum of a further four were noted in flight and although they appeared to land nearby we couldn't find them again. Several minutes were spent searching for them without success and we decided to head back to the car. One Raven was seen as we walked but not much else of note was added to our day list.
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| Goosander and Slavonian Grebe |
Our other stop today was the dam at Rutland Water where a range of good species had been seen yesterday. It didn't take long to find two female type Common Scoters and although distant they showed well enough through the scope. During our walk we were able to get a little closer to them and I got a couple of ropey record shots. Alan found one of the Great Northern Divers that have been reported from here though it was some way off. We watched it for a few minutes before it did the usual diver trick of disappearing. At the northern end of the dam I found the Slavonian Grebe which has been here for at least a week and we got some decent views. Our return stroll along the dam provided further views of the scoters and also of Goosander while the diver showed at bit better at the southern end of the dam. I somehow managed to delete all of my pictures from the SD card on the way home but Alan managed to save the day by recovering them using some sort of computer trickery. Whether his efforts were worthwhile or not you can judge for yourself!
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| Great Northern Diver |
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