The wind dropped a good bit today, allowing me a chance to scour the lake for gale-blown patch ticks but could only manage a slightly out of place great northern diver, while the reshuffled "aythya gang" made another reappearance and today featured 2 scaup, 4 tufted duck and the female goldeneye.
News from mcA of 5 pintail on the flooded fields behind Red Strand this morning got us wondering as to whether they could be visible from the patch. A quick trek to the stubble fields above dirk and the pools were in sight (just), but not the ducks. McA headed back to the car to go check if they were still present. Two minutes later, 5 ducks flushed out of the field and landed on the pool. The excitement nearly reached fever pitch as mcA's car trundled along the strand road, then the 2 arms aloft signalling that them's the birds and they promptly flew onto the patch list and, more importantly, the patch year list (133 and back into 3rd in the challenge). All to play for!
Another scan of the distant trees behind the lake finally produced 2 stock doves for the year (132) - was beginning to think I'd missed them completely. Quiet otherwise, with just the 3 scaup back on the lake early afternoon, hence the desperate treewatching!
Wet and windy today so didn't venture far! A slight change in the Kilkeran duck flock late afternoon, with the 3 scaup back, but with only 1 tufted duck and a female goldeneye today.
Got home just before dusk tonight to find the lake hopping! A family party of 5 whooper swans pitched down on the lake shortly after I got in - they were a bit nervous though, and flew off towards Ross soon afterwards. Even more surprising was that there was also a party of 7 aythya ducks on the lake! The light was very poor from the house, so I nashed down to the shore, to find 3 grubby looking scaup (131), and 4 grubby looking tufted ducks! The 2 coots were also still present along with 36 (count 'em!) little grebes, recreating the days of yore when Kilkeran used to hooch with wildfowl!
