North Duffield Carrs

 Usual taxi jobs on a Thursday morning and then out birding in the pleasant sunshine. North Duffield Carrs was my choice of venue with a slight detour. Whooper and Bewick swans had been reported in the area, so I went to have a look, as I had seen Bewick's swan this year.

The swans were too far away for my camera, but I hope that you get an idea as the numbers. Having seen the swans I then continued to NDC. Several cars in the car park, and everyone was in the far hide. I was however able to get my usual seat.

Lots of activity. especially when a buzzard, marsh harrier or peregrine flew over. Lapwing, ruff, dunlin, redshank, pintail, wigeon, mallard, gadwall, teal, shelduck, greylag geese, stonechat and starlings.

Then a man from the farm takes his dog for a walk

I have chopped his head off to protect him. As you can imagine the birds flew off to the furthest point on the reserve, and so the other birders left. I stayed until 4.45 in the hope that the swans feeding on the nearby fields might fly in to roost, or that a barn owl might appear, but no luck. However on the way back to the car I saw a red legged partridge, so tick number two for the day, to take my year total to 105.