Tuesday 5 March 2013

Local surprises

7/02/13
I headed to Sheepwash Urban park following my lesson, and it turned out to be a fairly productive visit.
Upon my first view of the lake i quickly counted a small flock of 7 Goosander on the far side. It was while scanning the Pochard and Tufted Ducks that i heard a loud 'Wheooooo' call from my right. The superb evocative sound of a calling male WIGEON!

The bird was resting on the rocks for some time (cue digi-binned picture), before swimming off into the middle, calling almost incessantly, probably trying to say 'How the f**k did i end up here?!'.
I have only ever seen one previous Wigeon at Sheepwash, so i was well chuffed to see it!

The Pochard flock was at a low 24 birds, and similarly, Tufted Duck only counted 8! I was also glad to see that the 2 TEAL dabbling on the muddy shoreline.

Moving away from Pumphouse pool, i found a flock of 30c Chaffinch adjacent to the 'mound' along the Canel.

For any locals interested, the 'mound' atm is looking amazing for any passage Chats or Wheatears due to its open barron-ness, if your in the area, have a look!
MB

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