Today I made a short visit to the
National Nature Reserve of Fenn's,
Whixall at
Bettisfield Mosses. I did not plod around the vastness of the open area but visited the new bird hide overlooking Charles Sinker Fields (you need a code to enter the hide). The hide overlooks a small area of open water with a much larger area of open water beyond. At this time of year it is mainly about ducks. Here are a few images.
A duck Eurasian Wigeon.
And a drake. On the very similar New World American Wigeon the yellow crown stripe is off-white giving the species the colloquial name of 'bald-pate'.
Two drake Common Teal in the foreground, one showing the green speculum in his wing as he flaps after bathing. On the bank behind stands a drake Eurasian Wigeon.
And now the other wing catches what little light there was.
A duck Common Teal in the foreground with a drake behind her and the same drake Eurasian Wigeon.
A smart drake Common Teal.
He goes looking for food underwater. These are mainly vegetation feeders.
Note the way the green on the side of the head ends in small tuft.
Here he is with his mate in the foreground.
There was very little apart from ducks. This lone Lapwing was the exception. There were several hundred Lapwing on a bund in the distant main water-body but this one chose to come and have its picture taken.
Think how much better those greens and purples would have looked had there been some sun.
The pale fringed to the feathers will soon wear away leaving it looking even smarter.
(Ed Wilson)
