Two long day's spent searching for a massssssive perch out on a boat at Hanningfield Reservoir, Essex, saw a catch of water birds of equally dismal proportion. We caught no perch between the two of us, but saw remarkably few birds also. The usual mallards and coots, but even they were few and far between, then in the afternoon of the first day up by the inlet, we spied a pair of unusual ducks, a gaudy cock with his drab hen following along behind him, a girl who could easily have been a mallard at the very respectful distance they kept at all times from our craft.
Turns out they were red-crested pochards, a duck species I have never seen before ~
As always, my long distance pictures were rubbish. Every time I tried I got blurred shots, the camera mistaking one thing or another for its focus object, but managed to get one quarter decent shot at 300 yards range, that I could use for ID purposes.
One day I'll get a big camera, but why would I take such a lumbering monster fishing with me?
Till then you'll have to be satisfied with what I get!
Quite a rare bird, I have heard. Escapees mostly the 30 or so breeding pairs in the country, or the very occasional wild birds reported on places such as Abberton Ressy, which is only a stones throw from Hanningfield really, so perhaps these too, were wild?
It's likely...
On the second day they were still there, hanging around and about the inlet at Middlemead. We also saw a lone black swan, but apart from the three worth seeing, there were very few natives on Hanningfield, let alone rarities.
Turns out they were red-crested pochards, a duck species I have never seen before ~
As always, my long distance pictures were rubbish. Every time I tried I got blurred shots, the camera mistaking one thing or another for its focus object, but managed to get one quarter decent shot at 300 yards range, that I could use for ID purposes.
One day I'll get a big camera, but why would I take such a lumbering monster fishing with me?
Till then you'll have to be satisfied with what I get!
Quite a rare bird, I have heard. Escapees mostly the 30 or so breeding pairs in the country, or the very occasional wild birds reported on places such as Abberton Ressy, which is only a stones throw from Hanningfield really, so perhaps these too, were wild?
It's likely...
On the second day they were still there, hanging around and about the inlet at Middlemead. We also saw a lone black swan, but apart from the three worth seeing, there were very few natives on Hanningfield, let alone rarities.
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