Common Scoters at Ferry Meadows

Time for some more dodgy record shots of an addition to my annual PBC (Peterborough Bird Club) list. This morning I received a phone call from Mike Weedon to tell me that there were 2 Common Scoters at Ferry Meadows, a new bird for the list of 2013 and not a common bird in these parts by any measure. I have only seen one of these birds in the Peterborough area before, so this was a chance to double my total!

The weather was not conducive to any sort of photography, but I thought that I had to try and get some sort of 'record' shot of these two drake birds. As can be seen from the photos above (hopefully!), one bird has slightly less yellow on the bill than the other, but they are both male.

A bird normally seen on the coast and so this was a nice 'tick' for an inland, landlocked lake.

A tale of two birds

It has been a couple of months since I have added anything to my PBC (local) year list and an absolute age since adding a local lifer. That changed on Thursday with the addition of two birds, one the first for a couple of years and the other, a 'lifer'.

I decided to pay a morning visit to Maxey GP, my local patch which has been having problems of late with the water levels. The pump has been broken and the water has been rising and rising, flooding the area and leaving it only suitable for wildfowl. The pump had been mended and the water removed revealing lots of wader habitat, ideal for a juicy rarity or two. On arrival I noticed two waders fly from a nearby spit, one Dunlin sized, the other smaller. On setting up my scope I saw the two birds to be a juvenile Dunlin and a juvenile Little Stint, a year tick and the first in two years.

The Dunlin is on the left, the Little Stint on the right

And below, a little video of the two.

At lunchtime I received a call from Mike Weedon and a text from Brian Stone to tell me of a male Common Scoter at Ferry Meadows CP, a PBC lifer for me. I couldn't get there for a few hours and I hoped the bird would linger. I didn't have to worry as the bird was still present on my arrival, showing very well.

A small, black duck that is normally seen at the coast in large flocks, indeed I saw several at my last visit to north Norfolk, but this was the first time that I had seen one in my local area and a male to boot!

My year list now stands at a respectable 172, with my local PBC life list reaching 208.