Fudge Duck after 4 hours at Abberton.

With the weather going to be a bit nasty around lunchtime we plan a quick trip to Abberton that's only an hour from home. The only problem nobody told the Fudge Duck that we wanted to only spend a couple of hours here.
We scan both reservoirs without any luck, we are now joined by some more birders, some stayed to search with us while others shot off & returned later.
A couple that we haven't seen for  some months join us & it was him that put the cry up got it.
The Duck had swam out from the overhanging trees & for a few minutes showed well but before we could get any good photos it was off flying right over to the otherside .
We head round to the other causeway where we have to wait some time before Dave B picks it out as it swims in close to the overhanging trees & at a distance so once again no photos.
A nice couple of Whooper Swans are picked out along with Smew & (Greater) Scaup along with many Goosander, a Kingfisher flies along the bank always a nice sight.2 Long-tailed duck's, Goldeneye, 2 Great White Egret.
So what we hoped was going to be a short trip turned into a cold windy but dry 4 hours. Only one year tick today but once again a nice catch up with some nice birders.

Brian was the only one to try for a photo.It was off as soon as we saw it.

One of the two Whoopers

Hoopoe + Spoonbill + Woodlarks

Off to Hampshire early arriving at Badminston lane  around first light.We get parked at the bottom of the lane & the Paddock is right in front of us.
A few birders are already here & we join them in scanning the horse field for the Hoopoe. It's not a long wait before the bird lands in the middle of the field but with a man feeding the horses it didn't hang about & flies away over our heads behind some trees,we walk up a track & get another flight view,it flies a long way & out of sight.We get a bonus tick when 3 Woodlarks fly over head calling & displaying to give a good show.
We head back to the Paddock & wait it out in the hope it will return. This pays off when the Hoopoe flies back over our heads & lands in the middle of the Paddock & we watch it for the next hour but it stays at a distance.
A local birder tells us of a Spoonbill only 12 miles away at Keyhaven Marsh, not seen one yet this year so off we head where we find a single parking space left at the bottom of Lower Pennington lane. It's just a short walk before we are looking over the first Marsh & the boys get to see the Spoonbill.
 I managed to miss the bird as it flies off before I catch up with them .So that means a walk around to the other pool Oxey Marsh where I get my tick as the bird is spotted on the far bank.
On the way back a large flock of Golden Plover are seen along with 5 Ruff 2 looking very white.
A few Snipe along with many Lapwings are seen & then a bonus as we spot a Peregrine Falcon feeding on a Plover on the ground.
A 2 hour trip keeps the year ticks rolling over nicely & we never saw a Hoopoe all last year so well worth the journey .

The Hoopoe

Our view across the Paddock the bird is over the back.

Pitstone Hill & Stocker's Lake.

With limited time again we decide to head to Pitstone Hill in Buckinghamshire. The aim is to try for the long staying Ring Ouzel.We find the car park & as soon as we get out of the car we find the Ouzel perched on a small tree yards from the car park,so a good year tick but we still spend over 2 hours watching the bird flying off & returning again soon after. Nice to spend time with Matt M on his local patch who gave us info on a couple of other places that we wanted to head too.
Off now to Stockers Lake Rickmansworth, the lake is the furthest away but not a bad walk.
The lake is scanned & we find just one Male Red-crested Pochard over the far side of the lake,that was our target so it's a year tick & we find that we are not far from Cassiobury Park so off we go to find ourselves a Little Owl.
It did not take long before we find the Owl in a large tree only yards from the car park.
A small time spent with the bird but before we leave it was nice to get a family onto the Owl as they had never seen an Owl before so nice.
The last place to visit as we head for home is Tyttenhanger G P. We know that there are Tree Sparrows here & we need them for a year tick after not seeing any at our usual spot at Dungeness a few days ago.
This turns out to be a long hard walk across some fields that were water logged in places.We find the feeders behind the builders yard & it's not long before a flock of ten or so fly out of the bushes & head away from us & we have to wait a while before a single bird lands onto the feeder in front of us.
We need to head home now as we are already a bit later than I should have been.

The Iceland Gull from last week.

A nice morning gets us 4 ticks each & that takes my year list to 164.

Little Owl

Pitstone Ouzel