We did a little whistle stop tour of the north yesterday, starting at Penberi Reservoir, where the Lesser Scaup were still present, although always at the far end while we were there, along with a few Mallards. The strange looking hybrid drake (assumed to be the one mentioned there by Clare Ryland on Feb. 11th) is also at the end. It seems to be a similar size to a Mallard but possibly with an element of Teal thrown in for good measure (or whatever?).
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| A Mallard of dubious parentage! |
We went up the Nevern estuary where we couldn’t find Green-winged Teal although there was a Teal in a few creeks above the Iron Bridge that we couldn’t see very well and might have missed. Duck numbers were relatively low but included at least 33 Teal (mostly in pairs), 30+ Wigeon, 30-40 Mallard and 5 Shelducks. Lots of mixed gulls bathing/resting at low tide, incl 100-120 Common Gulland three un-ringed adult Mediterranean Gulls. Waders included a few Redshanks, 3 Dunlins and a few Curlews but this did not include the tagged bird seen there recently, and a few Oystercatchers. A smart adult Heron using full breeding plumes dropped into the reedbed to feed, perhaps one from the Velindre Farchog heronry, or maybe another heronry nearby?
Then at Goodwick Harbor we were entertained by a very loyal drake Common Scoter in the afternoon. It spent a very long time gobbling and preening between several feeding sessions before it got bored with us and flew low over the water somewhere towards the far end of the harbor bay as the light was falling near dusk. A far away Red-throated diver and an equally distant one Black Guillemot in full breeding plumage were also noted, plus another heron in full breeding plumage (perhaps this one was from Priskilly?).
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