Blake Hall, Hales Hall, Croxden and Dimmings Dale produced just a single Kingfisher.
Brookleys Lake came good though with nearly eight hundred birds, with at least 86 Mandarins roostin', swimmin' and even displayin'! Far to cold for thoughts of rumpy pumpy pour moi even with the heatin' on full whack!!! Despite their plastic tag it's a superb sight to see these stunnin' little ducks as they sit twenty to a branch high above the water in the overhangin' Oaks.
Between Brookers and Rocester we spotted a field full of free range xmas dinners and to reinforce their reputation of bein' a bit thick this chap had managed to get through the fence but was doin' his very best to get back over to his soon to be stuffed mates.
Over at the JCB Lakes an incredible 54 Goosander were makin' the most of the recently restocked South Lake alongside 7 Cormorants. With over £20.000 pounds worth of fish gone in recently they must have got through a good few quids worth just while we were there. Not only have my employers been restockin' the fish but they've also been addin' to the wildfowl collection. A collection that includes Hawiian Geese, Spotbills, Cape Shelduck, Bar-headed Geese,Fulvous Whistlin' Ducks, White-cheeked Pintail, Red-breasted Geese, Swan Geese, Snow Geese, Hooded Merganser, American Wigeon,Baikal Teal, Muscovies, Black Swans which had 3 newly hatched cygnets and worst of all two incredibly tame Common Eiders!!! The male bird was tryin' to join in a game of footy at one point!
After finishin' the Webs we decided to finish the day off at the recently re-flooded Utch to see if we could beat RP's new record count of 64 Goosander which beat the previous record of 61 which we set last February. When we got to the main lagoon we found young Fair Isle thumbin' through a BnQ brochure while he took a breather from his Webs count. He loves his DIY does our Steven just like moi. After a bit of a natter we split up and me, Norbert and The Whopper headed off to look for Fast Eddies Little Owl. Half way round we bumped into Teanfords Scilly Spotter RP who decided to join us in our search for the owl. Almost as soon as we had turned round we picked up a couple of Whoppers as they headed north over the quarry, a quick call to Fair Isle with news of the Whoppers almost finished him off when he failed to pick them up. This is something like the sixth or seventh record of Whooper Swan for the quarry in the last two and a half years and shows that these birds must be using the valley regularly as they move around the country.
Whooper Swan 2, Wigeon 31, Teal 59, Gadwall 2, Goosander 59, Mallard 330, Little Egret 1, Green Sand' 1, Kingfisher 1, Raven 4.
Despite our best efforts we couldn't beat 64 Goosander as they came into roost and so with old Norbert strokin' his huge weapon lovingly we decided to call it a day and head for the warmth of the motor.
Still no sign of that bloody stork!!!
That's all foks.
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