Woolstone Eyes

I intended to spend my Saturday at home working on the dissertation in case a mega cropped up and I had to run off to go see it. So when a mega did break I did just that. I did not leave immediately as the white-crowned sparrow had been caught, and I wondered if it would be seen again. Whilst it was seen after its release, it was only brief, but by then I had already committed to going to the site.

On site there were still a good few twitchers around, but most were chatting away rather than birding, the general consensus seemed to be that the bird was not coming back, as it proved. That being said, there are a number of site specialties, not least the Black-necked Grebes which are very abundant on site. They show nowhere near as well as the birds as Swillington but always a pleasure to see. 

-Black-necked Grebe

But there was one bird I really wanted to see, possibly as much as the sparrow. I had heard rumor of the ducks that will not be named on site. I asked about it when I arrived, to receive negative news. However, once at the hide it was soon apparent a female was present and soon I had it seen. It was distant the whole time and difficult to get a photo of. There is a good chance I will never see this species in this country again, so I did enjoy it. Every cloud...

-The duck that will not be named

Aside from the two obvious highlights there were a number of other really nice species, not least a few very showy spring warblers, e.g. Whitethroat and Chiffchaff. A couple of nice Shelduck near the hide were nice, and there was a very close Common Sandpiper to admire too.

-Common Sandpiper

So despite not seeing the mega, and Halifax Town getting relegated, there was some consolation in the birds that we got seen, including that very special duck.

Species List:

Woolstone Eyes: Common Buzzard, Whitethroat, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Little Grebe, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Mallard, Gadwall, Duck that shall not be named, Tufted Duck, Great Tit, Robin, Canada Goose, Graylag Goose, Mute Swan, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great-crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Goosander,