Friday 1 March 2013

Ring Necked Duck at Colliford Lake and other sightings

A week off work and a chance to potter about and do some birding!

Sunday 24th February and we headed off to Wembury for a walk. It was the last day of School Holiday Hell - sorry, half term - but despite this and the dry and sunny but cold weather, it was relatively quiet. The cafe was open and we had our first Chunk pasties of the year  - yum!

Bird wise it was quiet with the best birds being a smart summer plumaged great crested grebe with 3 winter plumaged Slavonian grebes at Wembury Point. Two of the Slavonian grebes were close together with the third bird keeping some distance away and I wonder if these are the same birds I have seen at this time of year at Wembury for the last few years on their migration back East.

Monday 25th and a walk around Tavistock provided me with a sighting of my first dipper of the year feeding along the River Tavy by the town centre. On the way home we stopped off at Grenofen Woods and walked along the Drakes cycle trail and the new Gem Bridge which was quite impressive as it crossed the river valley. I saw a few woodland birds including a treecreeper, a great spotted woodpecker and 3 flyover ravens.

Tuesday 26th and a trip to Cornwall with a stop at Colliford Lake to look for the male lesser scaup but I was out of luck, it wasn't on the nearby Dozmary Pool either so was probably at the also nearby Siblyback Lake, showing how mobile wildfowl can be in this area. I did see a female ring necked duck, my second one of the year, which was a surprise, it has usually been seen on Siblyback Lake! A male and 5 female goldeneye and a flyover flock of around 30 golden plovers were the only other birds of note.

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