Tuesday 9 February 2010

Another Green Winged Teal Stripe Up for Hawky

Sunday saw me and Hawky up in Leicestershire/Rutland for the day. We met Bagsy (Hawky's Dad) in the car park at Rutland Water about 8am before heading off along the muddy trail to where up to 3 Long Eared Owls have been roosting for some time now.

On route we encountered some showy Tree Sparrows at the feeding station and a 3 Bullfinches in the wood as the path begins. 3 Goosander were just about the only birds on show from the hide we stopped off at, before we arrived at the owl roost. Through the dense thicket we could just about see 2 Long Eared Owls, obscured by branches and brambles.
Heading back a flock of 20+ Lesser Redpolls were seen in flight and a probable Hawfinch, only seen taking off and flying away from us caused quite a bit of debate on the bird's ID.

Back at the car park we headed to Eyebrook to try and find Hawky's bogey bird, Green Winged Teal. Hawky has been particularly unlucky with this species, having eluded him on an estimated 20 twitches. We spent the next 2 to 3 hours checking out what seemed every bloody Teal. Along the way we found 3 Smew (2 drakes) and 2 White Fronted Geese, and a Red Kite, but yet again for Hawky, no Green Winged Teal.
Not as Ruddy common as they once were!
but Red Kites are getting more common by the minute!

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