1 April 2023 - Hollingworth Lake & Elton Reservoir
« Newer | Older »Alpine Swift, Swallow, Little Egret, Dipper, Great Crested Grebe
Yesterday afternoon an Alpine Swift was found at Elton Resr., and was present all afternoon. I foolishly decided that I'd get in trouble for going early, so decided I would wait until Joanne had left for work, thinking that there was a good chance it wouldn't be around early morning, but more chance later on. I went around the lake early, and Simon and Andrew went to Elton, leaving at 7am. I saw the Dipper again by the bridge, and watched a Great Crested Grebe catch a fish.
News came through at around 9am that they'd seen it, so I left for Elton at around 10am, though the news was that it had appeared to fly off south at around 9:30. When I arrived at around 10:00 there was no further sign, and after wandering and scanning for some time, I left Elton at around 11am, having seen several Sand Martins and a Little Egret over. An Alpine Swift had been seen in Derbyshire at 11 am-ish, and it seemed that this could well be the same bird. However, less than 10 minutes after I'd left, it reappeared at Elton, showing well. I was back home before I found out, and we had company, so I wasn't able to do anything about it until around 3pm, when it was reported to be still present. I dashed back to Elton and walked to the far end, and sure enough, the Alpine Swift was showing well over the fields. The light wasn't brilliant, being distinctly dull by this point, but plenty of photos were taken, and I managed to get a few half-decent shots in the end. This is a bird that's eluded me in my twitching career of over 40 years until now! Other birds at Elton were a Swallow over the car park, and good numbers of Sand Martins as well as several Goldeneye.
Dipper, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 10000 (view full size image)
Great Crested Grebe, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 800 (view full size image)
Great Crested Grebe , 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 800 (view full size image)
Alpine Swift , 1/2000 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 1600 (view full size image)
Alpine Swift , 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 1250
Alpine Swift , 1/2000 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 2000