Location
With just an hour and a bit to spare this afternoon, it was off to a very windy pit 30 to see the 2 male Smew. Having struggled to find somewhere to park I eventually found an off road spot, opposite the footpath. And as per earlier reports the Smew (I only saw 1 male) was on the far bank, sheltering from the gale force wind. Clearly a male bird, all white with that striking black patch around the eye. Unfortunately the photograph below doesn't do it any justice whatsoever!
Birds Recorded: 1 male Smew, 3 Tufted Duck
A very very distant shot of one of the male Smew on Pit 30. A drake Tufted Duck to its right.
CWP Pit 74
Location
Moving on from Pit 30, I headed off to Twitchers Gate Here, you never know what you will find here. Today though it was all about Wigeon, they were everywhere. The horrendous wind was keeping just about wildfowl species to my right, including many Pintail on the stretch of water beyond the bar on the other side of Pit 74. Here there were also a lot of Teal and Shoveler, whilst on the bar itself were a dozen or so Cormorant and a few Lapwing. On Pit 74 though were my first Goldeneye of the year, a beautiful male and two females.
By Twitchers Gate I was surprised to hear a Treecreeper, which may well have been tagging along with tits. Also in the scrub a Reed Bunting.
Birds recorded: Great Crested Grebe, 12 Cormorant, 2 Grey Heron, 4 Mute Swan, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, 3 Goldeneye (1m, 2f), Coot, 100+ Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, 5 Herring Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Treecreeper, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch and Reed Bunting.
Wigeon and Coot sit it out on the choppy water