Back to cold and frosty this week, at least the ground is nice and firm under foot. A quick scan of the main lake revealed ~28 Shoveler and a large raft of Pochard in the south east corner with a handful of Tufteds interspersed.
We had a look around Fingers, little doing on the west lake as it was mostly ice. Four Shoveler on the east lake were joined by 4 more. A couple of Gadwall, a Kingfisher and a single Little Grebe were also seen. Little of note from Kramer hide, again mostly iced over, but a couple of Teal came in and a couple more were seen over the back.
We decided to walk over to Willington GP and picked up the Linnet flock, seen earlier in the week, over 100 Acre. There were a handful of Gadwall on the new workings and a good number of distant Teal. Only Gulls and a couple of Mute Swans on Meadow Lane GP, although a couple of Gadwall had move across when we came back past. We also had better views of some of the Linnets on our way back past Meadow Lane GP.
On the rise up to the bridge over the bypass we had a couple of Reed Buntings. Over the bridge on the Tern Pool 14 Tufteds and 4 Gadwall along with Mallards and a couple of Mute Swans. We flushed several waders, most of which seemed to be Snipe along with at least one Green Sandpiper.
At Willington GP there were a good mix of ducks but missing the Wigeon, regularly reported here. Just as I mentioned this to John we heard the familiar whistling call and turned to see approx 150 Wigeon flying in. The flock broke up with many continuing to circle overhead while others settled on the lake. Then ~200 Lapwing, seen earlier in the fields near the Tern Pool, flew in to join the fun, but continued on overhead with groups of Wigeon flying around them. In the Sheep field we could just make out a few of the Barnacle Geese flock along with a few Greylags. We had had 30 Greylags over earlier.
On the way back we had a Kestrel in the trees along Meadow Lane, but little as we crossed New Meadow on our way back to the car park.
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