February Garganey

28th February - I had the children today, as it was a teacher training day, so did not make my usual Friday morning check of the pit.  I had seen a message that Simon R had had 5 Pintail (3m, 2f) at lunchtime, nice to see that he had caught up with them after missing them yesterday and nice to see that numbers are continuing to climb.   However, later in the afternoon, I received a call from LGRE to tell me he had just found a pair of Garganey - wow! that is early and presumably the very early pair that were seen at College Lake exactly a week before, which is not too far away as the crow flies.  By this time, my wife had returned home, so I was able to go out and see them.  LGRE was still on site, so I got my first views through his scope.  It is always nice to see male Garganey in the Spring in their full finery and this one had a mate, to whom he was displaying on occasion.  The pair weren't too far away, swimming around with Wigeon at the base of where the spit should be.  I tried to take a record shot, but in the gathering gloom and drizzle, this proved to be a photo too far.  I've uploaded a couple below, but used the circles for help!!

Male with head down!

Pair, both with heads down!

There is a much better record here: http://t.co/a0Zr1BzQci

These are by far my earliest Spring Garganey ever, my previous earliest being March 16th.  It is not a regular bird on patch either - this is the first record that I am aware of since 2010.  So all in all a great end to what has been a bit of a hit and miss month.

LGRE and others had also had 7 Shelduck, though I could only see 5 when I was there and 6 Pintail (4m, 2f).  I didn't have time to look for these birds as they prefer the area on the NE side north of the spit which is best viewed from the east bank.  I left the pair of Garganey roosting with the Wigeon just before 5pm.