Smew at Tophill Low

 

No football this weekend due to flooded pitches so a chance to get out and see if I can get the last 4 ticks to get me to 200 for the year. I have not been to Tophill Low for ages so decided to go there today. Sunshine for a change which helped the photography.

From the visitor centre I was able to see this male smew.

Sadly it did not get very close to the visitor centre and was diving a lot.

A great crested grebe looked good in the sunshine.

The red crested pochards remained to the left and were not easy to photograph.

These pigs were busy below the bird feeders.

The windows in the VC are not the best for taking photos through.

Great, blue and coal tits. Robin, dunnock, chaffinch and greenfinch were very active.

Due to flooding some of the paths are impassable so I walked on the roadside footpath to get to the southern part of the reserve. I joined a group of people who were hoping to see the black-throated thrush that had been reported earlier. I waited for an hour and only saw, greenfinch, redwing, fieldfare, blackbird and robin.

I walked to the near hide. Lots of ducks and in the distance magpies were trying to steal the food from this marsh harrier.

In one field a group of goats are helping to keep the vegetation low.

A pair of stonechats were busy feeding on the reedmace.

 a pleasant day and one more tick  (red crested pochard) closer to 200.