The first passage Whooper Swan of the autumn spent most of the day on the reserve around the scrape in the compound. An added bonus was the Whooper bore a yellow darvic ring K4J on the left leg. I will post details of the birds history in due course.The juv Garganey remains on the Main Pool, constituting the latest ever record for this species at the site, beating a juvenile which lingered until 3rd Oct 2003.
Other species seen included 17 Snipe and single Common & Green Sandpiper, c45 teal, numbers of Gadwall, Shoveler & Tufted Duck, 5 Pochard, the first Goldeneye of the autumn (2nd day), single Goosander, 5 Little grebe & 5 G.C. Grebe and a Chiffchaff.
A flock of 10 Redwing > north at 17:45 were my first local birds of the autumn.
