Nothing in the moth trap overnight which wasn't too surprising and I'm expecting the same again tonight. An early riser Red Admiral was on the Sedum 'Autumn Joy' in the garden this morning, I suppose it may have even roosted on it.
News yesterday of an immature Scaup on the river at the Riverside Park got being down there after work but the light was fading fast. Still managed to see the bird but it was in the middle of the river and I only had my little binoculars with me. Looks like another visit tomorrow. The Whooper Swan and Pink-footed Goose were both still present and the pair of Mandarin were probably on the far bank but the visibility was too bad to confirm. I counted the waterfowl as I walked along from the feeding area to the the Cong Burn outlet. 298 Mallard (failed to get 300), 7 Tufted Duck, 11 Goosander, 69 Mute Swan (as well as the Whooper and Pink-foot), 11 Moorhen, 1 Cormorant and 2 Grey Heron. The pre-roost gull flock consisted of 148 Black-headed Gull, 3 Herring Gull and a Common Gull. No Dipper could be seen in the murk but a dazzling azure blue flash of a Kingfisher bombing downstream was easily seen. Finally 4 Siskin flew over to roost in trees on the golf course.
Hopefully some pictures tomorrow but rain forecast.
Didn't do too well in 2017 in keeping the blog up to date did I?, so must try harder.
You must have just missed me. I saw all them today, bar the male Mandarin. The one I was after!
ReplyDeleteI was there for the 20 minutes before dusk. Found the Scaup quickly enough but I'm always suspicious of inland Greaters so I'm going down tomorrow to string it into a Lesser ... possibly ;-)
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