A trip up to Westhay NNR after lunch failed to turn up the Ferruginous Duck that had been seen a day or so earlier, but a walk along one of the droves and a look over a couple of the lakes yielded about twenty Goosanders, half a dozen Goldeneye, and a couple of Water Rail calling.
As Ellie and I viewed the lake from a viewing screen we were treated to some fabulous views of a Kingfisher no more than 15 feet away.
We then drove on to Meare Heath NNR, parking in the car park and walking out to the hide at Noah's Lake. From here we had a single Bewick's Swan, plus seven Whooper Swans fly over, added to the numerous Mute Swans, we ticked off all three UK swans in about five minutes!
We then walked back to the car park and on to the Ham Wall RSPB reserve to observe the Starling roost. The main show took place at about 4.30pm with several tens of thousands (though probably more) birds swirling around in the sky. We also saw a female Marsh Harrier and two Peregrines.
We left at just the right time as there must have been well over 100 cars parked along the road. A good afternoon out on the levels.
UK list for 2010 now at 111 species.
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