Saturday 3 October 2009 - LESSER SCAUP in Warwickshire - 03/10/2009

Saturday 3rd October 2009

The 'suicidal brothers' Jules Allen and Tom Perrins took pity on me today and kindly escorted me around various sites in Warwickshire.  I say 'suicidal brothers' because for the second year running they chose the wrong week to spend on Shetland.  As you are all aware it has all kicked off in the Northern Isles over the past week or so but unfortunately for them they were there the week before.... their best bird ARCTIC WARBLER!  Anyway they did me a real favour today as I shuffled around like a pensioner.  My imobility is down to a serious football injury I sustained during the week.  I wasn't actually playing though, I heard on the TV that Wolfsberg had taken the lead against Manchester United.  As I stood up in the bath to listen what had happened I slipped, flipped a few feet into the air and landed with a smash ramming my right knee through the bath.  I then spun around, banged my head on the tiled wall and knocked myself out for a few seconds.  As I came around all I could see was blood and bubbles and a flooded bathroom floor.  A trip to the hospital resulted in a stitched up knee and a diagnosis of a cracked rib and mild concussion!

LESSER SCAUP at Draycote Water, Warwickshire

At a choppy Draycote early this afternoon the eclipse male LESSER SCAUP was quickly picked out amongst the 120 Tufted Duck that bobbed up and down in Toft Bay.  With not a great deal else to look at we then headed over to Shustoke Reservoir where a nice adult Arctic Tern was feeding well in the blustery conditions.  The final trip of the day was to Ladywalk WMBC Reserve .  Unfortunately there was no sign of the elusive Spotted Crake but a Goosander, a Green Sandpiper and a scattering of Common Snipe were nice to see.

Goosander - River Tame, Ladywalk Nature Reserve, Warwickshire - October 2009

Saturday 3 October 2009 - diving

Sunday 4 October 2009 - P*r*s*o*t*