A mild and sunny morning saw Alan Shorrock and I make a cross border trip to Eyebrook reservoir. We had no particular targets in mind though at this time of year it's always great to catch up with the regular Smews. Happily for us they were fairly obliging and we were treated to some good views of at least five and perhaps as many as seven birds.
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| Smew |
From the corral near the island I had a glimpse of two drake Smew though they disappeared soon after. As we progressed up the western side of the res we were treated to better and more prolonged views of others. Two drakes and two redheads were seen from near Hollyoaks while another distant drake was found off Stoke Dry car park. Leaving the Smew behind we failed to find the Red Crested Pochards that have been here for a while but did catch up with an Egyptian Goose. At the sharp end Pintail numbers had increased since our last visit and there were a reported eighty-eight present. On the mud a total of twenty one Dunlin were feeding and there was a single Golden Plover with the many Lapwings. Our last stop at the res was at the bridge where we were treated to good views of a small flock of Siskins.
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| Eyebrook highlights |
After a pint and a spot of lunch we headed to Wakerley Wood where the target was the Crossbills which have been hanging out in the general neighbourhood for some time. While we couldn't find any near the car park we did catch up with some about a kilometre from there. At least fifteen were noted flying over one of the paths and one settled briefly on the top of a conifer. For the first time this winter I was able to grab a record shot before it flew off, I'm hoping I might get a few better ones as the winter progresses. We heard and saw more Crossbills in flight at least twice more before we left but there wasn't much else on view other than a few Siskins.
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| Crossbill and another Smew view. |
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