Wednesday 1 February 2017

Beddington Farmlands, 1st February 2017

A dreary morning in the hide at Beddington was enlivened by the company of Magnus A and Christian C. The mound and Hundred Acre were given cursory looks, too. Highlights included single first-winters of Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls on the landfill site. There was some wildfowl value, the best being a female Pintail, along with two of both Wigeon and Shelduck. Four Water Pipits were knocking around, two Water Rails and two Cetti’s Warblers were vocal and a Green Sandpiper and a Chiffchaff were also nice to see. The Black Swan seemed quite at home.
 

We couldn’t figure out why literally no large gulls and very few Black-headeds and Commons pitched down on the lakes. Normally, hundreds are brushing up in the water at any one time while the landfill is operating and there are even usually quite a few loafing around the lakes on a Sunday morning when there is no tipping. We did, however, notice at least six dead gulls... Other waterbirds were simply going about their usual business. Odd!


♂ Shelduck and ♀ Pintail
first-winter Yellow-legged Gull with Herring Gulls
adult ♂ Pochard