Greylake and Cheddar 11th Jan - Green winged Teal etc

A very misty start to the day but thankfully it soon cleared as we headed towards Greylake on the Levels. From the hide there were hundreds of Teal and we carefully scanned every one looking for the recently seen Green Winged Teal, alas we could not find it. A few other birders were also looking. Not too much was happening despite a distant Marsh Harrier and a Peregrine seen perched on a distant gate.  There were also plenty of Shoveler, Wigeon and a few Pintail and a couple of Stonechats on the fence line. Thankfully a fellow birder returned to the hide and let us know that the Green winged Teal could be seen from the other hide, the kind birder even took the time to show us exactly where it was and we got a great view.  Several Snipe and a Great White Egret put in an appearance and a good few Water Rail  were seen from the walkway up to the hide.

Leaving Greylake behind we drove on to Catcott and arrived to see a ringtail Hen Harrier slowly dissapear from the reserve. Nice to see a few more birds here now including Teal, Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveler, Stonechat and a Kestrel.

From Catcott we ventured on to Cheddar Reservoir to try and locate the Red Breasted Merganser that had been seen the previous day. We did locate it but it made us follow us half way around the reservoir.  Still it was well worth the walk.  Good numbers of Pochard here and of course the resident Mandarin pair.

    Green winged Teal, the one with the vertical stripe

               

   A very distinctive teal once you know what you are looking for

                

    Female Shoveler coming into land

                

                    Shoveler pair

                

                   Great colours as the sun shines on the Shovelers

   A Peregrine sitting a couple of fields away

               

                    Just the one Great White Egret keeping its distance

   Wonderful to watch an hear Water Rails

               

   The Water Rails feeding in the open but not the best light for photos

               

                

                   Also known as the 'Swamp Pig' because of its squealing call

   No shortage of Snipe at Greylake

               

   Blending in, scan the grassy tussocks and you will find a Snipe

                

                

   Reed Bunting

               

                   Male Reed Bunting seen near the car park

   Starling singing its heart out

               

                    Beautiful sun caught colours

  Song Thrush near Catcott

               

                    Fieldfare, good numbers in the fields across the levels

CHEDDAR RESERVOIR

   Hard to resist a Mandarin in the sun

                

                   Lovely neat little female Mandarin

                

   Red Brested Merganser

             

                

   Searching for fish

               

   One hell of a fish to swallow!

               

                

               

                   Eventually the fish went down

                

   A Coot comes to investigate the stranger on the lake

               

                

                   Female Mandarin

   Mandarin