White Stripes

Garganey by Dan Heywood

A last minute decision to quickly pop down to Freeman's Pools before setting off for a meeting up at the Lake District Osprey Project this morning proved worthwhile.
The pools looked quiet but nonetheless there were a small number of birds on the water.
A couple of gadwall, a coot, little grebe, a couple of garganey... a swift double-take.
Yep, a smart pair of that loveliest of dabbling ducks was swimming alongside a gadwall pair. The drake's unmistakable white stripes dazzled in the morning sun.
I called Dan just in case he was in the area and sure enough he was. Within 5 minutes he had arrived at the pools and was soon snapping a couple of long-range record shots.
For a while garganey were seen annually around the Aldcliffe patch, both in spring and autumn, but as far as I am aware the two gracing the pools this morning are the first to be seen here since April 2009!
Other stuff around the pools included a couple of sedge warblers, lots of whitethroats and blackcaps and a female redstart plus the other usual bits and bobs.

Jon