11 December 2021 - Hollingworth Lake

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5 Gadwall, 7 Goosander, 2 Great Crested Grebes, Long-tailed Tits, Treecreeper, Redwings, Bullfinch, Teal

Had a good walk around this Saturday morning, in relatively calm but exceedingly dull conditions. I walked round anti-clockwise, and apart from a couple of Great Crested Grebes and a decent party of Goldfinch hadn't seen much by the time I reached Pavilion wood.  A few Redwings were in residence as usual, and as I reached the path beyond en route to the hide, a small party of Long-tailed and Blue Tits worked their way along the lakeside bushes from right to left.  Among these I found a nice Treecreeper, which soon disappeared in the same direction.  

From the hide there were around 30 or so Teal on the reserve, but on the far shoreline, and I noticed a party of 7 Goosander, including a young male, that appeared to be new in.  Also, a party of what appeared to be 5 Gadwall again.  As I walked around the far side, I took some record video to get screengrabs.  I suspect these may be refugees from Clegg Hall.  The Gadwall looked to be 3 drakes and 2 females.

As I reached the car park area, I could see in the distance what looked like two Great Black-backs with a Lesser Black-back in the gloom, so I took some video to check when I got home, but it turns out these were two Lesser Black-backs with a Common Gull!

Of note, the two Tree Sparrows are still in the garden.

7 Goosander

5 Gadwall

Lesser Black-backs and Common Gull