Flocks of 130 + 50 + 55 Cattle Egrets below Mudgeley & another 180 on edge of Tealham this afternoon (415+), although there were a few Littles, plus BH & H Gulls, with them. A Great Egret in field between groupings, plus a couple of Grey Herons on Tealham itself. Small flocks of Mallard, Wigeon & Shoveler also on latter, but only 30 & 25 Lapwing (although I couldn’t check evrywhere)
My short video of the 3 RND can be seen by clicking on the link below
10-Nov-2023
Rather than just looking on my camera viewing screen, have looked at my videos on a large screen and note that the drake does show a small white marking directly above its upper bill base and just a hint of a pale, very narrow whitish-line appearing along the sides of its bill. The Helm Guide to Bird ID by Vinicombe et. al. shows that a male moulting out of eclipse plumage shows a mix of pale grey and buffy-brown flank colour, the buffy-brown gradually being replaced. It also mentions that in eclipse, the crown is not as strongly peaked as in full plumage and Oct birds that have not regrown their new crown feathers can show a distinctly rounded and often quite a ragged head shape, surprisingly similar to Tufted Duck. All of which suggests that it is a drake coming out of eclipse and not yet into its full plumage?
9-Nov-2023
An hour’s visit early-afternoon to Decoy Lake Hide at Shapwick Heath NNR today soon gave sightings of a female Ring-necked Duck, which was soon joined by another female and what I presume is the male? The 3 of them kept in close company, diving in the shallows just of the reedbed to the LH side of the hide. Got some video and still photos, but a bit worried about the male which had a rounded head-shape, not peaking at the rear like I’ve seen before on other drakes and no sign of a thin white ring around the bill base. However the grey bill colour with an obvious white subterminal band behind a broad black bill-tip was good for this species. It did show a bit of a whitish crescent up the side of its black breast, but the rest of its flanks were tinged brownish, not the clear pale-grey that I would have expected. Perhaps not yet assumed full adult plumage: Sibley shows juvenile Aug to Oct and adult Oct to June, so could be some overlap at this time of year? Interested to get others views on this.
November is doing its thing…
A female Goldeneye was on Decoy yesterday pm and later, a pair was on Noah’s. A female was seen on HW recently too, I’m told.
Otherwise, all of these were reported yesterday:
Great Northern Diver, Canada Lake, see earlier post from Mat - and a Common Tern
Glossy Ibis with C Egrets north of Westhay - and there seem to be 400+ CEs around at the mo
1 drake and 2 female-type Ring-necked Ducks on Decoy
Ringtail Hen Harrier, Tealham
Terrific.
A brilliant afternoon today after a quieter morning at Noah’s and Ham Wall…
Found an adult female Ring-necked Duck on Decoy at midday despite the lower numbers of birds there this weekend compared to other recent visits. It was basically on its own for a while but the drake appeared eventually with a few Tufteds and after that, they kind of hung around together.
Tealham is underwater. A female Merlin landed on a post 6m from my car in the sun, weighed me up for a second or two then powered off. Probably the same bird seen by others at Catcott this pm.
In the NE corner of the moor, sub-adult and 1stw Little Gulls were hawking over the floods with BHGs.
Arctic Tern Ham Wall yesterday and today as well I see, and presumably the bird I saw on Long Drove yesterday, assuming it was the lingering Common (oops). I wonder when they ‘switched’. I hear a Black was reported too recently on HW. Would be great to hear more about that.
The juv Common Tern was again at Long Drove today and the Squacco Heron showed well at 1230 in South Drain from the bridge (and very well by all accounts after I’d gone, back in the east field).
RN Duck seen on Decoy apparently.
The Ring-necked Duck again this evening, towards the back and generally behind the big reed patch. Hmm.
Loads of duck on Decoy again. The most I’ve ever seen there, especially Shoveler.
Also a Mink…
Odds and ends this am:
Juv Common Tern over and around Long Drove, and a Green Sand on the field floods (but no Squacco there for me). Quite a few Fieldfare around with a few Redwing. An ad wp Med Gull with BHGs in fields west of Tealham.
Short-eared Owl has been seen at Greylake today I’m told.
The drake Ring-necked Duck has returned to Decoy Lake, hopefully for a chilled Somerset winter. At the back (east end) and only on view for a few mins this evening - no surprises there.
It’s identical to the current returner at Blagdon with very smart head and bill but smooth dark brown eclipse flanks still. We’ll see those moulted out in the coming weeks I hope.
Seems it’s a juv by virtue of the dark areas in the primaries, the dark primary feather shafts and the dark inner secondaries, all visible in Andrew Kirby’s Twitter photos (so not 2nd year or winter adult). It flew up to a tree on the north edge of the lake early afternoon today and landed with 40 Cattle Egrets, which was just terrific.
Very exciting moment this afternoon when the Squacco Heron appeared in the SW corner of the Long Drove lake (same lake favoured by the Lesser Scaup). First seen two or three days ago, apparently.
Was quite elusive spending long periods hidden in the willows but showed well occasionally and did loaf on the South Drain bank for a while as well. A few peeps came to see it and everyone parked carefully, and avoided blocking the road. All very civilised and great fun.
A juv or winter adult. Will try to work out which…
Also a juv Common Tern, an ad wp Med Gull and regular flyovers of Cattle Egrets in all directions.
7 Wheatear, 6 Stonechat, 1 Whinchat, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Kestrel, 1 Little Egret and 5 Cattle Egret. Most seen from West end of Tealham Moor Drove this morning
By mid afternoon the Whinchat appear to have spread out, with singles at either end of the Moor. Also 20 Cattle Egrets, 4 Little & 2 Great. Lovely to see a juv Spotted Flycatcher elsewhere on Marshes.
NW corner of Tealham Moor today: 6 Whinchat, 5 Wheatear, plenty of Stonechat, 1 Green Sand. 2 Cattle Egret and a few more Wheatear close by.