After enduring a mass household outbreak of Covid I thought it would be good to get Limpy out of the house for a while, and even better to take him somewhere he could bird without becoming too exhausted! The obvious choice was Abberton Reservoir and its parking-friendly causeways. It was a good call as the weather was actually dry when we arrived! A number of ducks were about and one of them caught my eye immediately:
This beauty is a Baikal teal hybrid - it appeared last winter and it was good to see it back!
Those markings are gorgeous.
Two Egyptian geese in step with each other.
My first common gull of the autumn! Wish it had been closer.
One of a few little egrets.
A lurking grey heron at the edge of the reedbed.
Another autumn first - a beautiful goosander. Abberton always has some of these during the winter.
Does she look bothered by all the gulls? Not even slightly.
A coot enjoying a good nosh.
I was delighted to see these pintails. It's not often I see them within reasonable range of my camera.
Even without the pin tail they are a beautifully marked duck.
This great white egret was the highlight of the afternoon for me!
Magnificent. I know they are officially a 'great egret' but that lacks a certain something so they'll forever be great whites to me.
Not magnificent but very attractive in flight - a black-headed gull.
Finishing with a beautiful great crested grebe.
Enjoy!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.