With the continued presence of the 3 juvenile Blue-winged Teal at Boultham Mere on the outskirts of Lincoln,Chris kindly made a second visit with me today.Access to the site isn't the best to be fair and having to park in the local shopping outlet wasn't the best.After the fairly long walk we finally arrived at the birds chosen site and as we walked along the final approach,i spotted 2 of the 3 birds feeding in the drainage dyke,just outside the entrance of the reserve,but before we could get any pics they had flown back onto the reserve.We walked around to the birds fave feeding area and again only 2 of the 3 birds were present and we watched them as they dabbled about in the waterside vegetation,the third bird then appeared from a small channel deep in the reeds.The birds when watched feeding looked to me like they had a fairly fast and distinct feeding action when compared to other members of the genus and appeared quite long necked.Even when looking into the sun,the pale loral spot at the bill base was always visible.The birds then all flew off around to were the hide was.We then walked around to the hide and they were sat infront with a flock of Shoveler and gave the best views of our visit.After about 20 minutes they again flew off and that was that.For anyone doubting the birds provenance they seemed very wary and jumpy and for 3 Juv's to turn up together after an Atlantic storm,they look pretty genuine to me.This was another species i have managed to claw back for my Linc's list and was my 3rd sighting of this species overall after a juvenile male at Tophill Low in November 1995 and a fine adult drake at Saltholme RSPB in October 2009.Other minor highlights here included 3 Water Rail and 4 Chiffchaff.After our visit to this lovely part of Lincoln we travelled over to Whisby Nature Reserve and put in some serious effort around the reserve finding very little apart from a juvenile female Aythya hybrid,Grey Wagtail,2 Great-spotted and a Green Woodpecker and a couple of Chiffie.Good numbers of Odonata were still on the wing today in the lovely weather and included Brown,Southern and Migrant Hawkers,Common and Ruddy Darters,Common-blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies and Butterflies included Small White,Speckled Wood,Small Tort and Peacock.With not many other sites in the area,we spent the last couple of hours of our day down the Carrs at Bonby.The expected raptors here included an adult male Marsh Harrier,3 Hobby,6 Kestrel,2 Sparrowhawk and 12 Common Buzzard.A good end to the day and a big thanks to Chris for driving.
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| Juvenile Blue-winged Teal,Boultham Mere LWTR,record shot. |
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| Juvenile Blue-winged Teal,Boultham Mere LWTR,record shot. |
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