Abberton Reservoir twitching Canvasback

     As per usual on my journey back and forth from Paris, I stopped in to see my good friend David Darrell-Lambert and we spent the day birding together around London. Our destination of choice was Abberton Reservoir, a large water body in Essex that at the time of our visit hosted a good number of interesting species, including a potential world tick with the long-staying Canvasback.

  We arrived mid-morning and headed first to the Billets Farm viewpoint from where the Canvasback was seen. Unfortunately a strong backlight, blustery conditions and the flocks of ducks being distant meant that we were unable to spot the bird during this first visit. However, it was not a complete bust as were able to pick out a distant drake Smew.

  Next we continued around to St Andrews Church Viewpoint, which had the benefit of being with the light but the birds on the reservoir were distant. From here there had been a pair of Lesser Scaup and a small group of Greater Scaup but again we were not able to pick them out as we filtered through the distant flocks of birds. A Sand Martin flying overhead was the highlight of this location, my first Hirundine of the year.

  Moving on, we next stopped at the Layer Breton Causeway, where there had been a flock of 12 Greater White-fronted Geese. Finally we had some luck, with the birds showing nicely in a field at the side of the road. Also at this location we had a small group of Spoonbills, as our day began to turn a corner.

  Now early afternoon, we headed back to the Billets Farm viewpoint, where our visit immediately started well with a flyover Great Egret. We continued scanning the birds and eventually one of the other birders present managed to pick out the Canvasback from a very distant group of Pochards. It was extremely difficult to keep track of however, with the bird sleeping most of the time, whilst the plumage features we could see changed with the variable conditions. Not a classic bird to have twitched!

  To round out our day, we tried once again to see the Lesser Scaups, except this time we chose to view from the Lodge Lane viewpoint. Once again, the birds were very distant from here, but after much scanning we finally managed to pick out both Scaup species. The flock then had the discourtesy of flying around, so we had to once again filter through the flock for the birds. At this range, distinguishing between these two Scaup species was not an easy prospect, but we did manage to find them both. The highlight from this section however was a nice close flyby Peregrine and two Little Gulls over the water!

  After a very satisfying day, we headed back to London, with all the birds in the bag. My train that evening took me back to Halifax. 

Anglers CP and Wintersett Reservoir

Having been working on Monday and a very busy day on Tuesday, today was the first chance I got to try for the Lesser Scaup on Wintersett Reservoir. I decided to go after my lecture and spend the afternoon up there as reports suggested it was far more active in the evenings than during the day.

I set off around 12 under gloomy skies and frequently changing weather. That said, it was a very pleasant afternoon. As soon as I got of the bus at Anglers CP I knew it was going to be a good day as the sky was full of Swifts and Hirundines, but especially the former. There were hundreds, flying really low over the lake.

-Swifts

I had a quick look in the hide hoping to pick out the resident yellow legged gull but it was not in for the time I was there. I had a quick scan but only spotted usual things and so headed off quickly to try and get the Lesser Scaup.

I picked up another birder along the way, but he said he had not seen it, though he had no scope. As a result I began to doubt that it was as a forgone conclusion as I had imagined that I would see it. I had no reason to fear, as soon as I had set up the scope I had picked out the bird on the far side of the reser with some tufted ducks. Alas, it was quite a way away so we headed round to try and get a little closer.

On the far side the view was better but the bird had moved out into the middle of the lake where it spent around half an hour fishing. The other birder thanked me and left after about 15 mins, but that was a mistake to make, as after a while longer the bird took flight and came to chill with the tufted ducks on the near side where I was viewing from. It began preening and swimming within 10 meters of my viewpoint allowing me fantastic views of the bird, clearly showing the purple sheen on the head and the peculiar head shape that distinguishes it from greater scaup.

This particular individual has more than just his Lesser Scaup features though. He has an orange tag on his bill which makes him stand out quite significantly. This tag has allowed this bird to be identified before and he has quite a history. The code on the patch is VH and he was trapped and tagged as a juvenile drake on the 20th December 2013 in Sao Jacinto Dunes NR in Portugal where he remained until the 3rd February 2014. He was next seen in Llangorse Lake in the Brecon Beacons, south Waled from the 17th October 2014 to February 2015 when he dissapeared again. The next time he turned up was 4th May 2015 when  he was spotted on Wintersett Reservoir, West Yorkshire, which is where he is right now. Stories like this remind you of just how cool birds are.

-Lesser Scaup

-Blurred Flight shot showing half bar

After showing close for a while it then moved out into the middle of the lake again, so I headed off back to Anglers to see what was about. There was not a great deal around still but there was a Black-Necked Grebe reported so I headed for a look at that. I bumped into Mick Turton who was back home to do some things, so that was nice. He picked out the Grebe but it was very distant and hard to get a photo, but it was a super summer plumaged bird to look at. It was also a yeartick...

-Black-Necked Grebe

In the hide there had been little change in the scenery, though a Common Sandpiper dropped in, as did an Oystercatcher. There had been good numbers of Common Tern throughout the day too, and some of these were perched up on the rocks near the hide. I had a scan through for arctics but could not find any.

So that was that. Lesser Scaup is my sixth duck lifer this year alone. I can't imagine any other bird group is going to top that, especially with the views I have had from most of those lifers, pretty incredible.

Species List:

Anglers CP: Black-Headed Gull, Common Tern, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Moorhen, Coot, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Common Sandpiper, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Common Teal, Black-Necked Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Willow Warbler, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Jackdaw, Blackcap, Blackbird, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Kestrel, Common Buzzard, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Pied Wagtail, 

Wintersett Reservoir: Tufted Duck, Lesser Scaup, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Kestrel, Common Buzzard, Common Tern, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Starling, Woodpigeon, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe,