A new reserve for us, and wow...it's impressive. The infra structure by way of hides etc was great and there were many, many birds. Most notably for us: it was great to see so many Whooper Swans, but even better to see Bewick Swans amongst them and to be able to identify them. A distant view of a Black-necked Grebe, together with many Wigeon, Teal, Coot and a couple of Great-Crested Grebes completed the set. (Although I have labelled this post Norfolk - it's actually Cambridgeshire.)
 |
| Hiding behind a mound of sugar beet to view a large flock of Whooper Swans as we approached the reserve. |
 |
It was nice to see pollarded willows again.
|
 |
| Luckily for us, something or someone, put up the Whooper flock, so they flew overhead into the reserve. |
 |
| Sleeping Wigeon. |
 |
| Snipe..well camouflaged. |
 |
| Never having seen a Bewick Swan before, it was really helpful when one was wearing a neck collar and swimming directly below a post...so it's position was easily described! |
 |
| We then became more confident in identification - based on size and the proportion of black on the beak. Birds 1 and 3 from the left are Bewicks. |
 |
| Spot the Bewicks ... |
 |
| Take off...Whoopers. |
 |
| Pochard - there were approx 300 males. There were 6 females - the rest would be in warmer climes! |
 |
| Waiting for the 'swan feed'. It was amazing how evenly spaced the Pochard were - acting like repelling magnets on the water as they swam around. |
 |
| Feeding time and the Mallard appear! |
 |
| Sunset over Welney - in the summer these are dry fields. |
No comments:
Post a Comment