A flying visit to KGV reservoir in Chingford on Friday gets me 2-year ticks.
We walk the south basin as all the birds are in in the southwest corner, A Black-neck Grebe is spotted for the first tick, we all needed that. The Red-necked Grebe is still here but not needed for a tick.
A walk along to the North basin gets me a tick when we scope a drake Scaup, the boys had already seen it on another visit without me. The wind was blowing at quite a force so not a long visit.
On Saturday we leave home fairly late as it's only just over an hour to another Essex reservoir Abberton.
Before we get to the causeway we see six Cattle Egret in a farm field, so a quick stop for a photo or two.
Down on the causeway, it's a bit cold but not too bad. One side is full of large flocks of Tufted & Pochard.
Over the road, only a few birds were seen. Two Snipe are seen close to the edge for a photo.
So back over the road for a good scan. Jimmy soon picks out a single Red-crested Pochard, the Longtail Duck is not seen and that was why we came here today. as we need it for a tick.
A ride round to the Church where we see 8 Bewick's and a nice tick Slavonian Grebe. a fellow birder tells us he has just had the Longtail round at Layer Breton causeway so off to find it.
All the birds from across the road seem to be on here now, so we start to scan the large flocks & after a short while we have another year tick when the Longtail Duck shows well but at a distance.
A red-head Smew is seen and over on the Island we see at least 7 Great Egrets.
The Hybrid Baikal Teal is still here along with a funny-looking upright farmyard Duck.
Very close in on the water there are 31 White-fronted Geese along with one single Pink-footed Goose.
A very nice morning indeed and only a short distance from home.
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| Black-necked Grebe |
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| Baikal/Teal Hybrid |
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| Cattle Egret |
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| White-fronted and Pink-footed Geese |
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| Snipe |
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| Smew |
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