February 28th 2011

The day started early with a call from Pete Hall who had found 30 Waxwing in Cawston at 8am so contacted Bob who had them from his kitchen window, when he came round 30 minutes later he was grinning from ear to ear as we set off for Draycote Water.
The pond was dull with a bitterly cold north easterly wind and occasional rain. The male Smew was still off farborough bank joined by a female that flew in mid-morning but was flighty and had moved to toft bay by the time we got back to the car (many thanks for messages Steve). Bird of the morning though was the stunning male Merlin that had a go at the finch flock which contained 6 Brambling.
Also present were Mr & Mrs Scaup in rainbow corner, Raven with a damaged left leg, 4 Yellowhammer 18 Goldeneye and 12 Goosander plus hundreds of Black-headed and Common Gulls.
Remember the yellow davic ringed female Bewick’s Swan (No 606 named Grindul) that took up residence between Church Lawford and Bretford for a few days in January 2010 (see blog entry’s January 12th and 14th 2010 for more details). Colin Potter has sent me an update on her travels he received from the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust. After her visit to Warwickshire she was seen in the Schleswig-Holstein area of Germany on the 17th March 2010 which she has visited before in 2006 & 2009 before being sighted back at the WWT reserve at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire on 30th January 2011 with a new mate called Husavik and still there on 25th February 2011.

Richard