There was also a pair of oystercatchers there at the canal, your later post reminded me. Ps I didn’t see the gadwall over the weekend but have seen it in recent weeks, also with a female mallard.
Hi Tom, we thought it looked like a f scaup but weren’t sure so thought it was more likely to be the commoner f tufted duck. It seems Nick G has seen a f scaup with some Eider so that may have been the one we saw.
A few hundred pink footed geese seen flying north east over Westbourne road a few days ago, coming from aldcliffe direction. I tried counting, it looked like 500-600.
This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by Filosophy.
It is by the brow/ridge at the start of the path from freeman’s pond towards aldcliffe and conder green. Frog pond field is adjacent to the freemands woodland footpath. The geese were in the field on the opposite side of the path, nearer the estuary
The man feeding the ducks said he regularly fed them at that spot and that the drake gadwall would always be following a female mallard. He’s not a birder but who knows…? Perhaps imprinted at birth or a bit of a personality?
We have had four or five blackbirds interested in the berries on our Rowan tree, Westbourne road. There seems to be one in charge, controlling the store, perhaps seeing that it lasts the winter 🙂
