Wildfowl Collection
Saturday 3rd March 2007
I headed out first to the Cotswolds to Harnill where there were 2-3 Tree Sparrows in the garden of the house near the phone box, also a small flock of 15 Fieldfares and a Green Woodpecker nearby. No sign of Grey Partridges around the Driffield area, but several singing Skylarks and Yellowhammers added a spring-like chorus to the welcome sunshine. I then made for Slimbridge. Most of the waders had deserted the Dumbles and the Tack Piece, apart from the odd Curlew and an Oystercatcher, but the Great Skua was still on the river, and a third-winter Yellow-legged Gull was near the pool in front of the Holden Tower. The White-fronted Geese with the Bean Goose moved on to the estuary. With not much else around, I took advantage of the sun to photograph wild ducks, especially the resplendent drakes, as a Peregrine swept across the back of the Tack Piece in vain. Below, from Robbie Garnett and Martin Smith hides, are Teal, Shoveller, Tufted Duck, Pochard and the collection is completed by a Pintail photographed last week in the Rushy Pen (photos: Paul Masters).
I headed out first to the Cotswolds to Harnill where there were 2-3 Tree Sparrows in the garden of the house near the phone box, also a small flock of 15 Fieldfares and a Green Woodpecker nearby. No sign of Grey Partridges around the Driffield area, but several singing Skylarks and Yellowhammers added a spring-like chorus to the welcome sunshine. I then made for Slimbridge. Most of the waders had deserted the Dumbles and the Tack Piece, apart from the odd Curlew and an Oystercatcher, but the Great Skua was still on the river, and a third-winter Yellow-legged Gull was near the pool in front of the Holden Tower. The White-fronted Geese with the Bean Goose moved on to the estuary. With not much else around, I took advantage of the sun to photograph wild ducks, especially the resplendent drakes, as a Peregrine swept across the back of the Tack Piece in vain. Below, from Robbie Garnett and Martin Smith hides, are Teal, Shoveller, Tufted Duck, Pochard and the collection is completed by a Pintail photographed last week in the Rushy Pen (photos: Paul Masters).
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