Rustic rewards

Yesterday we were compensated for our stay in the rustic hideaway by a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that started singing whilst we were walking back to the van.

We were heading for Blaxhall in Suffolk. Mary needed to do some shopping, so under duress we called in at Bluewater shopping centre.

I checked Birdguides to see if there was anything nearby and found a Glossy Ibis just South of Chelmsford & only a few miles off our route. It had been in a pond near to the Fox & Raven Pub for a while; sounded easy. Sure enough we found the pond, but no Ibis.

The Fox & Raven PH,  the pond, and no Glossy Ibis

There was also a Long-tailed Duck on Abberton Reservoir in Essex. A chap I used to work with always used to rave about it as a birding venue, so we decided to do a spot of exploring & hopefully pick up the duck. We did the exploring but of course……no duck. There was quite a lot of work being done around the reservoir, and it was probably the wrong time of the year, but it was all very uninspiring  The only interesting thing was a large Cormorantry (if there is such a word!), apparently one of the biggest in the country. They're meant to be mainly the Continental sub-species (Sinensis), but they're really hard to identify, especially when at the distance that these birds were. We took a few photos & will see if we can measure the angle of the gular pouch at some stage…..if we can actually see the gular pouch that is.

Mary on the causeway at Abberton Resv

We had quite a long way to go, so headed straight to Blaxhall from there. I had no new birds & Mary had 3, the Lesser Spotted W/P, a Green Sandpiper that had been in a boggy pool in a field near the reservoir, a Red-legged Partridge that she had spotted in a field as we were driving.

My Year List still on 162 + 1

Mary's Year List on 106 + 1