Pochard

Nipped out to Groby Pool at lunch time. Nothing much doing there, although I picked up Shoveler for the year. One duck I seem to have struggled to point the camera at with any success is Pochard. They always seem to but just a bit further out than anything else, and also drift even further out once they notice the camera pointing at them. Today I managed some shots - certainly not frame-fillers but they cropped down to something passable.

The Gadwall on the other hand were never close enough, or in nice looking water ....

Whilst the Canadas were just too close, but anything looks nice in the right light ....

Frozen Lunch

Nipped out for some crisp fresh air at lunchtime today. The partial thaw of yesterday was in rapid reverse with the sub-zero temps lingering through the day. It was clear and sunny but fecking cold. I knew that the water would be frozen over, but a walk down the public footpath on the northern side was the plan. Nothing too exciting to see, a couple of March Tits and Nuthatches were best but it was good to be out after a crap last week and a constrained weekend.

Civilised Birding

Yesterday's fog had cleared a little this morning, at least locally. So, after a few necessary tasks revolving around food (fill up seed feeders, scatter mealworms, fed the fish, feed the offspring ...) I headed over to Narborough Bog. Surely with all these Bearded Tits around there would be some in the reedbed there.

Before I entered the reserve, a small mixed tit flock caught my attention as they worked along the treeline and across to the allotments. I casually put the bins up to see if anything interesting tagging along and was pleased to find a Coal Tit amongst them - first I've seen here and the closest to home that I've ever seen one.

Once in the reserve, I walked around to the reedbed and watched, waited, listened. A sizeable group of Goldfinches went over, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker noisily called, but nothing from the reeds. Maybe they are the wrong type of reeds ...

No. 3 in the Titless Reedbed series ...

The wrong reeds ...

I carried on around the reserve, noting a couple of smart Bullfinches, but it was generally quiet aside from common species. I noticed some fungi and went off-piste to have a look. Turned out to be a great slice of luck as once again on this reserve I inadvertently put up a Woodcock.

Trametes hirsuta?

??

Lots of these flowering in the damp woodland ...

Is it normal for Red Campion to flower in mid-November?

I decided to head up to Cossington again, but almost as soon as hitting the motorway the fog was building again. I changed my plan and headed to Groby Pool instead. Still foggy but nowhere near as poor as yesterday's weather.

As ever, manky hybrid ducks and tame feral geese were cluttering the steps and pathway on the southern shore. There was a single drake Pochard that seemed to have drifted too far away from the rest of the ducks whilst sleeping, though he soon woke up and drifted off once I started to point the camera.

I headed on to the reedbed and bumped into Ben Croxtall and Andy Forryan. Before I had a chance to engage in any conversation we were all watching another small tit flock. A few Goldcrests were tagging along, and there was also the unusual sight of a tail-less Long-tailed Tit. A Kingfisher flashed past a couple of times whilst we waited in vain.

We all headed around to the public footpath to get a better view of the reedbed, stopping on the way to watch the comings and goings of a range of species coming to some seed laid out on a large flat stone. Overall we saw three Marsh Tits, a Nuthatch, two Great-spotted Woodpeckers, a Coal Tit along with a few Blue and Great Tits, Chaffinches, Robins and Dunnocks.

Another Kingfisher, a smart Jay and a flyover Siskin were noted, but the reedbed though remained resolutely quiet ..

No. 4 in the Titless Reedbed series ...

Before heading back onto the main path I noted this impressive looking bracket fungus. No idea what it is.

After a bit of a natter, I headed back to the car. The conditions seemed to be deteriorating so I called it a day and headed home after checking through the various ducks and gulls on the water (nothing exciting).

All in all a great morning out in the field, enjoying both a bit of solitude and peace at the first site and some amiable conversation with like-minded souls at the second. Civilised birding, just like it should be.

Frozen

Both Groby Pool and the southern half of Swithland Reservoir were still frozen over late this morning. The sight of a Carrion Crow walking around in the middle of the latter was a clue.


You know it's cold when birds of differing species simultaneously loose a leg and Mute Swans try to use themselves as scarves.

Nothing of interest at Groby Pool, other than another definite candiate for the avian genocide that I'm planning for all hybrids, ferals and escapes.
Definite vermin.

The only other observation at Groby Pool was the extremely rare Trainer Duck Anas rebokensis.

What the ? How? I didn't bother to check if the owner was under the ice with the other shoe.

After a brief diversion into Swithland Wood, where Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Jay and Great Spot were all seen well but not photographable, I moved on to Swithland Reservoir. Best bird here was a redhead Smew (I didn't pick up either of the drakes reported over the past few days) amongst the many Goldeneye, Tufteds, Pochard and GC Grebes. Also a very confiding Grey Wagtail (super birds). All very relaxing - just the ticket after the shite early morning debacle.

Super bird.

Crows are ballsy birds. Evidently.

Today at Groby Pool

Another lunchtime foray into the wilds of Leicestershire for a scan through the wildfowl. Not enough time for accurate counts, but there was exactly zero Mandarin and nothing more exciting than Gadwall and Shoveler. Overall though there were a lot more ducks than last time I visited, with plenty of Wigeon and Pochard in particular. There were also more Cormorants than the Groby Pool fish stocks ought to support! Nothing to tax the gull identification skills either.

Groby Pool

Nipped over to Groby Pool this afternoon after leaving work. I see the car park is completely locked off these days forcing normal visitors who aren't dogging to park on the roadside. I was suitably armed with my monopod fully inclusive of large pointy spike in case any filthy scumbags were about. There weren't, unless you include the manky Mallard-alike hybrids. Nothing too exciting on the water either - although seeing as I haven't bothered to look at any open water with bins or scope for a long while I can't remember the last time I saw Pochard!