A return visit to Ham Wall this afternoon and today I parked at the Sharpham end of the reserve as news had broken just before I left work of a drake Ferruginous Duck showing east of the second viewing platform.
There were a few birders present when we arrived, but the bird had gone AWOL...what a surprise! It appeared that my run of dipping birds had not stopped...that is until I got a call as I was walking away that the bird had reappeared, and after a few seconds I managed to get some cracking views of a very smart drake Ferruginous Duck. A small flock of twenty or so Lapwing flew west whilst we were on site and a female Sparrowhawk buzzed over the reeds as we neared the car.
Instead of driving straight home we took a little detour around Sharpham to check out the fields where I had seen a herd of Whooper Swans back in January. A total of ten Whooper Swans were still present and in the field opposite a single Eurasian White-fronted Goose grazing with a couple of Greylag and Canada Geese, so my second year tick in twenty minutes and I managed to see both target birds without dipping either! Result!
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