26 OCTOBER 2008

Juvenile Greater Scaup, Wilstone Reservoir, Tring, Herts, 26 October 2008 (Dave Bilcock)

SUNDAY 26 OCTOBER 2008

WILSTONE RESERVOIR
(with Steve Rodwell) (1500 onwards, got dark at 1705)

The heavy rain eventually cleared the area mid-afternoon and gave way to much colder and clear conditions.

Dave Bilcock had very kindly informed me of an Aythya duck he had discovered in the morning (in attrocious weather conditions) and that he had managed to get some 'record shots' of. It was, in his opinion, a GREATER SCAUP. Mike Campbell had seen it just prior to my arrival.

Steve and I quickly relocated the bird swimming with Tufted Ducks between the jetty and the central bank of 'Cormorant-roosting' trees and it was showing well. It was slightly larger than the accompanying Tufted Ducks and was mainly dark brown throughout but with pale grey feathering on the flanks and sides. It had a longer neck, a slight pale crescent on its lower rear face and a flatter crown, with its body profile sat low in the water. Most noticeably it had two small pure white patches at either side of the base of the bill, with the bill itself being larger than that of the Tufted Ducks, wider and longer with a small black nail restricted to the tip. It had a dull yellow eye and its head shape in particular was noticeably different from that of the 'tufted' appearance of juvenile Tufted Duck. Two boys then climbed down off the jetty and into the reservoir at 1620 and flushed many of the Athyas, with the small flock of Tufteds that this bird was with all flying up. The GREATER SCAUP flew with them affording me excellent views of the upperwing pattern - revealing an extremely broad pure white wing-bar, from the inner secondaries to within four feathers of the outer primaries. The wings were also broader than that of the Tufted Ducks and the bird itself slightly larger in flight.

Once again, full credit must be given to DB - an excellent find in abysmal birding conditions. Certainly well-deserved and the first GREATER SCAUP in the Tring area this year.

The rest of the birds

Great Crested Grebe (33)
Little Grebe (3)
Mute Swan (24)
WHOOPER SWANS (2)
Common Teal (235)
Eurasian Wigeon (78)
Gadwall (7)
NORTHERN PINTAIL (all 7 still present)
Northern Pochard (86)
RUDDY DUCK (5)

EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVERS (235 on mud)
DUNLIN still present

208 Black-headed Gulls pre-roosted, with several Common Gulls, a single Herring Gull and 3 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls

COMMON KINGFISHER