Yesterday (Sunday) I should have been researching laptops as mine has died & I need a new one. However, a Ferruginous Duck was reported as being on the floods at Hay Moor in Somerset, giving me the perfect excuse to put off my technical headache for another day. It was just over an hour away & I didn't set off until about 11, but at least the directions were quite good. In fact I'd been there before in the Spring looking for, & failing to find, a White Stork.
I went straight to New Road and drove south from the A361 towards North Curry, until I could go no further.
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| The end of the line.... |
I joined forces with a very nice chap from Taunton, who had a 400+ UK Life List. It's always nice to bump into an expert! There were quite a few sight-seers at the blockage so we walked up the hill a little way to get a view across the hedges. Iinitially the light was pretty awful and we couldn't find a single duck anywhere on the vast area of flooding.Then we found a fairly large flock of Tufted Ducks and by walking back to the road closure & looking through a gateway we had quite a good view of them. It only took a few seconds to find the nice drake Ferruginous Duck among them. I tried a spot of Digiscoping, but I still haven't got the hang of it. Still, at least I can prove I saw it!
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| Record shot of the Ferruginous (aka Fudge) Duck |
I had planned to do a bit of exploring in the area, but as it started raining I just ate lunch & then headed home wearing a big grin!
Year List now on 213
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