Drake Green Winged Teal

After another bout of snow in the Glasgow area yesterday, there was very little evidence of its presence this morning. Unfortunately, nor was there any evidence of cans of Stella Artois on the M74 following the major spillage from a lorry 2 days ago.

It was a bright morning at Caerlaverock as I arrived around 9:30 am. The approach fields had a big flock of both Barnacles & Pink Feet. I wondered if the latter had spent the winter in Dumfries & Galloway or could they be displacements from further South and merely using Caerlaverock as a pit stop ?

I scruitinised the feeders at the car park and a Tree Sparrow was present. My first stop was the Folly Pond where a Drake Green Winged Teal or hybrid Teal had been present for some time. I could not see it and indeed there were few Teal at all. Several Shovelers were close to the hide performing their circular feeding routine with their heads frequently below the surface making them dam difficult to photograph. I persisted :



Drake Shoveler



















Drake Shoveler - just about to put its head in again !





























C5 Black Tailed Godwits were also notable.

I headed in the direction of the 11 am Swan Feed and helped by the fact that the reserve was the quietest I have ever seen it on a Sunday I was distracted by good numbers of House Sparrows, Reed Buntings & Yellowhammers present in the track side bushes.



Yellowhammer




























The Swan feed was only attended by me and one other and the warden pointed out a hybrid Tufted Duck/Scaup that was present.

I spent some time banging my head off the roof of one of the small green hides that line the Avenue down to the Tower in the hope of some decent Barnacle Geese shots. Despite my discomfort the results were not great:



Barnacle Geese























A large flock of Barnacles were in the flooded fields to the left of the Avenue Tower. I attempted to go through them for something of interest, but the flock, that numbered several thousand, appeared very jittery and frequently took to the sky, wheeled around and settled again. I could not see what was disturbing them, but it is an impressive sight and sound to behold nonetheless.

I scanned the distant salt marsh in the hope of Peregrine but all I saw were Buzzards.

On the way back towards the Whooper Pond, a Moorhen posed in the sunlight:



Moorhen






















And Again



























Back at the Folly Pond I found the Green Winged Teal. I presume the indication of some sort of scapular stripe perhaps indicates the possibility of a hybrid ?


Green Winged Teal ?




































Some other images from the Folly Pond:

Oystercatcher






















Shelduck - Drake






















Eurasian Teal





















Wigeon Drake























And Again