The Covid-19 saga rumbles on with no end in sight and as we enter our second lockdown of 2020, one has to wonder how we can defeat this virus or at least start living with it in some meaningful way.
Meanwhile the world's wildlife is doing what it does best - getting on with life and turning up to enrich our lives.
A possible Ferruginous Duck was spotted on the Mere yesterday morning. I went along to have a look and went out again in the afternoon, but with the light being pretty poor any photos I managed to get were not very clear.
The primary diagnostic identifier to me was the white undertail coverts and they were obvious through the scope, and show up quite well in the naff photos. Other points such as size, bill length and head shape are not obvious to me.
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| Ferruginous Duck |
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| From my perspective, it could be |
The only time I've seen Ferruginous Duck before was in France in 1999 when a drake in breeding plumage graced my scope and camera lens, in glorious sunshine and from about 50 yards away. This was a totally different matter: a female-type bird in gloomy light from about 300 yards.
BUT!! The day was fantastic anyway! As others were trying to re-find the FD, I caught up with the adult drake Long-tailed Duck that appeared in the morning. A fabulous bird with, surprise surprise, a long tail. We have had long staying juvs and females before but this is the first adult drake I've seen here. Wonderful bird but too distant for good pics. Now, if KP had been open...
Also, while watching the FD an adult Slavonian Grebe swam by and 2 Whopper Swans that landed earlier were in the foreground.
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| Whooper Swans in the supporting cast |
I only had my long lens so getting photos or video was difficult but the phone helped a bit. This was without doubt the best murmuration I've seen at the Mere and capped a great afternoon's birding.
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| How many? Just part of the whole |
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