Who'd be a Teal?
Full on raptor action today, with 5 Marsh Harrier 'teal flushing' birds from Vinson's and Sunley's Marsh over towards the Mere, only to be caught in a pincer movement of 3 hunting Peregrines. The juvenile Peregrine of the group managed to take down a female Teal, but through obvious lack of experience nearly lost it on the deck as the bird struggled to escape. It took five minutes to dispatch the bird...
Other raptors included 6 Common Buzzard, 2 Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.
A small group of Barnacle Geese 8, dropped in mid afternoon on the Mere with Pink-footed Geese and Greylag.
Waders included 600+ Lapwing, 43 Ruff, Redshank and Common Snipes.
An unconfirmed report of Bewick's Swan yesterday hasn't materialised today. It would have been a very early record here. Very surprisingly 3 wild Whooper Swan have dropped in on Swan Lake, which is the area of water in front of the restaurant,.
