Red-crested Pochards at Watermead CP South
Here is a few shots of the pair of Red-crested Pochards which have been around Watermead Country Park South for the last month or so...
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Wet my lips, Skippers and Chicks!!
Ok the title sounds like a bit of porn but it's based on my wildlife highlights yesterday!! Birding highlights included finding a calling Quail in roadside fields between Harston and Woolsthorpe by Belvoir in the Vale of Belvoir just 100 metres inside the Leicestershire county boundary! Not far from the Vale of Belvoir I also visited Saltby Airfield hoping to find Turtle Dove which I had recorded at this site in the last few years. However disappointing I didn't find any Turtle Doves but I did see good numbers of Dingy Skippers (30+) on the nearby limestone outcrops. Ok so your asking were are the chicks?! Well the chicks came in form of seven Red-crested Pochard chicks by the car park at Watermead CP South when I returned to my local patch later in the evening. I'm not sure if it's the first time that Red-crested Pochard have bred in Leicestershire but it is the first time in the Soar valley recording area! Dingy Skipper@ Saltby Airfield Dingy S...
City Challenge update: Red-crested Pochard!
Nipping over to Watermead CP South in the afternoon after my early shift had finished, I was hoping to see the "probable" Nordic Jackdaw again in the car park. But scanning the lake briefly for any unusual gull I noticed straight away 3 Red-crested Pochards loafing on the lake! Oh year tick for the city list!! GET IN!?! With this sighting my year list has now reached 75 species so far for the year. Getting back to looking for the Jackdaw I saw the bird again, briefly next to the car park and then in the nearby fields by the former golf range (now an Indian Restaurant!!). I took a few more record shots of the bird but need to do a bit more research on the bird, before claiming it to be a proper "Nordic Jackdaw" . Red-crested Pochards at Watermead CP South
Sightings over the week: More ducks,a few gulls and some Waxwings!
Over the week between work and home I have spent time at Watermead taking photos of the gulls and ducks, a quick trip to Groby for Allen Pocock's Waxwings and more gull watching down at Shawell. Here is a few photos I took over the week. Male Goosander at Watermead CP South. Female Red-crested Pochard also at Watermead CP South. Waxwing at Groby Another shot of one of Waxwings in Groby!
Soar Valley year list update.....Red Crested Pochard!
Although I have been at work all week I checked out the whole of Watermead Country Park today. For most of the day it was pretty quiet on the sightings front, but I did find a nice looking male Red-crested Pochard firstly as it flew over me by King Lear's Lake, then the Key Lakes at Birstall and then finally the waterski pit at Watermead CP North . I let John Hague know about it as it was a good bird for the Soar Valley recording area. The only other species I added to my Soar Valley year list today was a couple of Skylarks over the Watermead CP South. So including today's sightings my Soar Valley list is now on 73 species for the year.
Sightings over the week 6th-11th Sept 2009.
Great White blob at Saddington Reservoir . Possibly due to lack of motivation after my Biscay trips and me being on night shifts in the week I didn't go out birding until late afternoon on most days. So the highlights I saw included see the Great White blob at Saddington Reservoir, a couple of trips to Eyebrook Reservoir for an assortment of waders, a covert operation to Rutland Water to see Curlew Sandpiper and eleven Red-crested Pochards and finally a few trips down the Soar Valley to see nothing except for a couple nice looking Hobbies .
Soar Valley sightings 28th April 2009.
Hi all, check out a few sites in the valley yesterday, although there wasn't much to report!?Probably the highlight of the day was seeing 3 Little Egrets and 1 Yellow Wagtail on the Hobley Pool/Upper Marsh section of Cossington Meadows . Other sightings included the long staying drake Red crested Pochard and good numbers of Swifts (20+) at Watermead CP South . Strangly for the time of the year Wanlip Meadows was very quiet with only a Common Sandpiper and 3 Common Terns the only noteworthy sightings. Hopefully with the weekend looking good weather wise we should get some more unusal sightings or probably I'm just tempting fate?!
Red crested Pochard at Watermead CP South. 17th April 2009.
After finishing work I checked out Watermead South to see if there were any Terns around? Getting out of the car and walking towards the shoreline. I noticed straight away a MEGA bird for the Soar Valley. The MEGA bird was a lovely drake Red-crested Pochard !! In almost twenty years of watching my local patch of the Soar Valley this was the first time I had ever seen a Red-crested Pochard in the Soar Valley. So over the last week I've had three local patch ticks, Red-rumped Swallow , Avocet and the icing on the cake, the drake Red-crested Pochard . Knowing that the duck was quite rare in the valley I texted and phoned my birding mates of my find. As the duck was showing very well off the car park due to constant feeding of bread by the locals I took a few record shots of the bird. Just before driving home I checked out the scrape at Wanlip Meadows and noted that two Green Sandpipers was still there, but no sign of yesterday's Avocet. Cheers to John for the supplying the top ...