14 April 2019 - Hollingworth Lake - Avocet

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Site tick today - Avocet, flew in at around 08:30. Ended up on muddy edge of nature reserve and stayed for most of the day.

Walked around the lake anti-clockwise this morning, in relatively warm-ish sunshine, with little to report, until just approaching the pavilion wood area, saw an unfamiliar-looking bird flying overhead left to right.  Got my bins on it and wow- Avocet!  It flew towards the sun, and failing to locate it in the camera viewfinder, it was lost to view over the trees, but seemed to be heading towards the reserve. 

I dashed over to where I could see the exposed mud (we've had some good low water levels so far this spring), and it was there, standing in the shallow water.  A couple of quick record shots, then went to the hide where it was just visible from the left hand side.  I was able to get some better shots and video from here.  Unfortunately I'd forgotten my phone, so having acquired some reasonable photos, dashed off to alert people.  I stopped a couple and explained the situation, and asked if I could use their phone.  Luckily they obliged and I contacted Joanne, who quickly drove round to drop my phone off.  Long story short, I was able to get the news out and the bird was very obliging, staying till at least 3pm, so everyone was able to catch up with it.

The weather was a bit hit and miss; the sun kept disappearing behind clouds and it would get really cold with a stiff breeze, but provided some different lighting for photography purposes.

Also on the reserve today - at least 3, probably 4 Little ringed plovers, one Oystercatcher and 2 Redshank, as well as a couple of Lesser Black-backs.   Three Tufted Duck were on open water, and in the afternoon, at least 3 redhead Goosander were on the muddy channel frequented by the Avocet.

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