Lots of Effort - Little Reward

A bit of a wander around this morning to see if I could stumble upon any migrants.

First up was Gayhurst Quarry, where as everywhere else Warblers were in full song - Willow, Reed, Garden as well as Blackcap,Chiffchaff and Common and Lesser Whitethroat.
The two Oystercatchers were still there, as well as seven Common Terns. The Swan flock numbered 85 and 'Pinky' was here as well with some Greylags and Canadas. One pair of Greylags had about four Goslings and a couple of Mallards had young ducklings in tow. Then onto Linford, where again Warblers were everywhere, this time with some Sedge and a couple of Cetti's as add ons.
The Bund was very quiet with no waders at all, athough 3 Common Terns were present, also a pair of Teal, a pair of Gadwall and a drake Wigeon.
I had quite a fright when a pair of Canada Geese suddenly landed on top of the Hide and started walking around, - they made quite a noise!
Forty or fifty Swifts flew above the lake and the Cuckoo was calling accross the field.

Next stop was Willen which was 'Heron City', as it seemed all the youngsters had left their nests.
I counted 19 Herons along with one Little Egret on the island. On the spit were 2 Oystercatchers and my first Bucks Dunlin of the year. Nine Common Terns were either on the rafts or flying around.
On South Lake were another 11 Common Terns, lots of Swifts, Swallows, House and Sand Martins and the water ski dinghy chased a Common Sandpiper along the boardwalk
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Bewick's Surprise

Finally all my stopping and scanning through all the large flocks of Swans I see paid off. Ninety nine times out of a hundred they are all Mutes ( although recently there has been a Black one around).
Today at Quarryhall near Gayhurst Quarry I was going through a flock of some ninety birds, Mute, Mute, Mute, Mute, ..hey hang on that one looks odd and a bit small!. Flipping heck it's a first winter Bewick's!!... No this is Buckinghamshire we just don't get them!
But sure enough it was and it seemed quite happy dozing away amongst it's larger orange-beaked cousins. I put the news out but as yet I don't know if anyone else got to see it.

Elsewhere around Gayhurst Quarry, there were still around a hundred Wigeon, a dozen Teal, 15 Shoveler and 7 Gadwall plus the usual Mallards and Tufteds, 2 Little Grebe and a single Little Egret.
Waders present were the 2 Oystercatchers, one Redshank and a pair of displaying Lapwings.
Hirundines showed in the form of about 20 Swallows and my first House Martin of the year.
A Willow Warbler sang right where I parked the car, Chiffchaffs were quite numerous and a Blackcap showed as it sang in the spinney.

An American Duck in M.K.

Drake Green Winged Teal (Digi-binned picture courtesy of Paul Moon)

A call from a breathless Paul Moon had me rushing out of work this afternoon. He had found a drake GREEN WINGED TEAL at the Linford Reserve.
I was there in minutes to see this handsome bird resting beneath some Willows just out from the Near Hide. It seemed very settled and in fact went to sleep and was still so when I left.
He was in the company of around 20 Eurasian Teal. Other Ducks present were a few Gadwall, Mallard, Shoveler and good numbers of Tufteds.
On the Bund itself were 14 Cormorants, 2 Oystercatchers, a Snipe, a Lapwing and a group of Common and Black headed Gulls.
2 Little Egrets flew around the Heronry and a couple of Chiffchaffs were singing around the Reserve.