Whooper Swan at Crudgington Moor

1st winter Whooper Swan

  I thought I would try just down road, a flooded field that held over 40 Mute Swans at Crudgington Moor a few days ago. The flooded area was almost gone and there was a single white dot on the far side. A juvenile Whooper Swan! Before this I came across a flock of finches feeding in a stubble field at Kinley. Over 150 Chaffinch, 20 Yellowhammer and Greenfinch and a vocal Tawny Owl was in the nearby trees.

A single Brambling and 3 Yellowhammer at Kinley

1st winter whooper Swan in a flooded field at Crudgington Moor

There were also over 200 Fieldfare and 40 Meadow Pipit in the area

The swan was in the field just to the right of this ditch. Some 30 year ago, I used to cycle down here a lot and on the posts along this ditch there would be a pair of Redshank displaying. Lapwings bred in good numbers and Turtle Dove were singing in the woods. 

Canada Geese on a small farm pond which also held 22 Tufted Duck and 5 Little Grebe

  I was passing through Newport, so thought I would check out Chetwynd. Here there were good numbers of ducks including 45+Shoveler, 48 Tufted Duck, 3 Goosander and a personal county record of 25 Gadwall!

11 of the 25 Gadwall at Chetwynd

I joined 4 birders observing the gulls coming into Prisorlee Lake. The only gull of interest was another hybrid thing? This was different to the hybrid I had last week at Candles, appearing bigger and short winged. Maybe a GlaucxGBBGull?

Yesterday I made a visit to Candles Landfill tip and got the sub-adult Caspian Gull and 2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls

Great band! Leading the way is the amazing late Jerry Garcia. Grateful Dead were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California.The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk,bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock,and for live performances of long musical improvisation. "Their music," writes Lenny Kaye, "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists.The founding members of the Grateful Dead were Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals), Bob Weir(guitar, vocals), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (keyboards, harmonica, vocals), Phil Lesh (bass, vocals), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums).Lesh was the last member to join the Warlocks before they became the Grateful Dead; he replaced Dana Morgan Jr., who had played bass for a few gigs. With the exception of McKernan, who died in 1973, the core of the band stayed together for its entire 30-year history. The only thing that's wrong with this song, it's too short!