Wigeon, Wigeon, Peregrine, Wigeon, PEREGRINE?

15/2/06 Welney WWT Leaders: Simeon and James
We took up the opportunity of going to Welney for a while quickly. We had the usual things like; Great-crested grebes (2 displaying), Ruff, Pintail and Black-tailed Godwit. Then James spotted a Tufted Duck times Pochard hybrid, not something you see every day! We got some average shots of the nine Bean Geese (see gallery). I got beautiful views of a Kestrel hovering outside the main hide and I managed to get a couple of decent shots as well (see gallery). Suddenly thousands of Lapwings with other waders like Dunlin and Curlew flew into the air. They had been flushed by a Peregrine! It took them a while to settle down. Then, one of the Wardens said "Oh there's an adult Peregrine sitting on the ground over there if your interested". It was magnificent and we managed to get some shots of it, although they were poor quality! Then finally, three male Reed Buntings flew in and started eating some of the left overs from the feed in front of the hide! A lovely end to the day!

Not quite what we hoped for!

11/2/06 Titchwell RSPB Leaders: Simeon, James, Connor, Matthew.
We went on a guided walk with one of the Titchwell wardens. We were hoping to see the many hundreds of Pink-Footed Geese coming in to roost. It was some time before they came in from the fields so we popped down to the sea to see what we could see! We saw aprox. 4 Red-Breasted Mergansers, about 50 Goldeneye, Aprox. 1000 Common Scoters, and an unidentified Diver that was probably Black or Red-Throated. After about an hour of seawatching we headed back to the marshes where we managed to pick up; Snipe, Grey Plover, Spotted Redshank and a few Little Egrets. We were just walking along the path heading towards the first hide when the warden pointed out a Snow Bunting. He had seen it fly up from one of the small islands, but had only been able to identify it by the call. It was a nice year tick. In the Harrier roost there were four Marsh Harriers. Unfortunately we didn't see the male Hen Harrier that had been seen there in the last couple of days. All in all it was a pretty good day. By the way, the only views of the Pink-Footed Geese were when some came over the hills in the distance! Not quite what we hoped for!