A first-winter male long-tailed duck turned up last week, and pleased many visitors who came especially to see him, although he sometimes made them wait. I heard of people watching for up to an hour and a half, then spot him sitting out on open water. Where had it been? How did it get there?
I checked the lake this morning, hoping he'd still be here for a guided walk in the afternoon. In 10 minutes, there was no sign, but I did find a smew. This was the first one I've seen for this winter - a red-headed bird, indicating either a female or first-winter male. So, the afternoon walk had to go to Swavesey Lake so see a rare duck.
The group met, and I told them we were off to look for a rare duck, but I teased them by not saying which species we were looking for
We got to the lake, set up telescopes and saw neither. Volunteers and I showed various other ducks, grebes, and grey herons to our guests, then finally Luise spotted the smew. What a relief! With good timing, just as the last guest in the queues for telescopes were looking at the smew, Dennis spotted the long-tailed duck. True to form, it was sitting out in open water. All of those people birdwatching, but concentrating on the smew, and no-one saw how the long-tailed duck came to be in open water!
Then it was time to head back to the car park, where we hoped to watch the starling roost. The numbers had been low on Sunday, leading to speculation that the roost is going to end soon. We watched and waited. Seven starlings arrived, flew around then headed away. We watched and waited some more. Another small group arrived, flew around, and continued to fly around. Would that be all? Eventually, more small flocks began to arrive, and organised themselves into one large shape-shifting cloud, occasionally forming a tight ball, then splitting as a sparrowhawk flew through them.
You don't want to see the entertainment being killed, but the tight balls of starlings that explode like fireworks only seem to happen when a sparrowhawk is trying to catch it's supper. This sparrowhawk made several failed attempts, then went off to rest. It (or another) tried a few minutes later, with equally spectacular results for us, and no supper for it.
In the end, I think there were only about 5000 starlings tonight - more than enough to put on a really good show, but perhaps the season is almost over for another year. Stand by Somerset Levels, Marazion Marsh, Aberystwyth and Brighton Piers - our starlings may soon be heading your way.