Watermead White Stuff

The probably wild but acting captive Whooper Swan is still knocking about at Watermead CP South ...

Meanwhile, this probably captive but acting wild Ross's Goose was entertaining with its little yelping efforts ...

This one doesn't fit the post title. Apart from its bill and shield.

More of the same

J5N1 from Norway ....

.... which is the 6th CR Black-headed Gull this week that I've seen at Watermead CP

This ringed individual didn't hang about for long enough to get a readable range of shots - should be identifiable by that debris stuck around it's legs though.

This Lesser Black-backed looked a lot daintier than yesterdays ...

... which then pitched up with a headless Common in between to give a good size comparison -

presume they are male/female

Another improved Pochard shot.

A nice female Tufted Duck

The bread-addicted Whooper still knocking about.

Only other interest was a singing Chiffchaff.

Lately, I have been mostly listening to Knife Party ..

"Look at my ring ...

... they're all the rage you know."

Nipped over to Watermead CP South again this afternoon after work - needed some fresh air and a chance to wield the camera at something. Anything. As it happened, as soon as I got out of the car I noticed a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull and decided to get a few shots. Eventually I got shots of three different ones. I've sent off the details and await the ringing reports, though I already know that a couple of these at least have been recorded at Watermead before and I know where all three are from.

VH85 - Denmark

JAN4 - Norway

T9NH - Poland

Aside from the gull diversion, not a lot to get excited about though the Whooper Swan is still knocking about.

Otherwise, I was entertained for a few minutes by some skanky Brown Rats milling about the edge. Always makes me smile a little to know that the very same people who would go mental at the sight of a rat are the ones bringing the ridiculous amounts of bread n shit which sustains them.

I also noted a few common flowers ..

Colt's-foot

Daisy

Red Rings and Bread Baskets

Today I ventured manfully back to work properly, despite still feeling the wrong side of well, after fielding e-mails and the odd call from home the last two days. By late afternoon I was feeling a bit crap again and thought some fresh air would help, so I left work and took a detour to Watermead CP South before heading home.

Before I start recounting what I saw, here's a poser in a very Not Quite Scilly-esque style. I should point out that anyone from Leics. & Rutland is excluded by virtue of insider knowledge, and anyone who has read another Leics. birders blogs is also excluded. But the other one of you, click on this for big and what do you see?

Before that, I had a quick look at gulls (even more NQS-esque I know). I even made an effort to look for any coloured adournments on their legs and found this:

Black-headed Gull, Red-on-Left, V028, Denmark - hopefully full details will come through but I am sure this has been recorded here before by the Teaboy.

The only other gull I liked was this nice clean Lesser Black-backed loafing about briefly until I pointed the camera at it.

I also found, whilst searching for what I had actually hoped to see, a pair of Red-crested Pochards and a distant Oystercatcher on the island - neither of which were particularly photographable but that never stopped me before.

Facing the wrong way - both me and the duck

It's one of the black and white blobs, up the bank and far left of the Goosander I hadn't spotted before blowing this up and lightening it a bit.

So back to the opener - did you see anything, or did you just cheat and skip through all the shots?

The aforementioned Teaboy found an immature xyz calendar year sub-adult Whooper Swan earlier in the week and it was still around yesterday so I thought it worth a look. I had hoped that it would be acting at least a little respectably, like the Bewick's Swan at the same site last year. I dilligently searched though all of the swans that were not engaged in frantic bread-eating. I figured that if it was still present, it would be keeping away from the melee and avoiding the larger and bulkier Mutes. Consequently I couldn't find it initially, because the greedy bugger was actually front-of-house and more than holding its own, actually grabbing the Mutes and forcing its way to the masses of yeast-based shite being thrown at it.

Once I'd sussed this, I reeled off loads of shots - many being a bit rubbish as it was either too close or too engaged in bread-eating. However here's a load to bore you with. Skip to the end if you really don't like Whoopers (who doesn't like Whoopers!?).

I doubt it will be leaving soon, in fact I seriously doubt if it will be able to fly! Meanwhile, amongst the Mutes this one was particularly striking with its very stained head ..

I caught some garden moths last night, but that can wait.

The Goose & Swan

The title of this post is nothing to do with a rural drinking hole, but a reference to the birding this morning at Cossington. I was there just after first light, and once again it was bloody cold (-3C). I had a quick look around Cossington Lock for a loitering juv Whooper Swan with no sign, and was then planning on trapsing off towards the sewerage farm to look down onto the Wanlip North lakes when John Hague called to say he'd join me any minute. Andy Cliff also appeared and the three of us hot (actually fecking cold) footed it to look for geese. A good walk and a few minute later and we were scoping through a large sprawling goose flock, mainly Greylags and Canadas but a few White-fronted Geese were also quickly spotted. Before long the hoped-for juvenile Brent Goose gave itself up, quickly followed by a solitary Pink-footed Goose. Excellent - two county ticks for me. The White-front counting was nigh on impossible, but we made a minimum of 9 including a juvenile. A couple of Egyptian Geese also showed themselves - probably the biggest rarities in terms of Leicestershire (as opposed to Rutland where they are resident). A soaring Buzzard, loads of lapwings and assorted ducks were also noted before we headed back to the lock. This time the Whooper Swan was easily located milling about with a handful of adult Mute Swans. This bird is the epitome of the ugly duckling. Damned ugly. It was very animated though, constanly nodding its head and making noises. I grabbed a bit of crappy video in poor light - it actually looks pretty good on the PC but seems to get knackered through compression of some sort when uploaded. Anyway, you get the gist. A quick stomp around Rectory Marsh at Cossington Meadows put up four Snipe, but no Jacks. A pair of Stonechats were knocking about - always great to see. I then had a look around Chapel Lane off of Welford Road for a small group of Waxwings that were about yesterday - no joy. Maybe the big flock picked up at Loughborough this afternoon will still be knocking about tomorrow.