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Thursday, September 15, 2016

Ogden lives on

                       F Shoveler in hazy conditions out in
                            the middle of the water.

    Spent most of its time resting

                                Drake Gadwall
                                        1 of 4 Teal
                A mish mash of waterfowl
                                   12 months since the last one at Mixenden

                                                           Sun down.

A call from NK just before lunch today reporting Teal, Shoveler and Gadwall at Ogden got the adrenalin going so after Sainsburys duty it was head for Ogden at 1445 hrs.
A good scan produced nothing and it looked like the birds had gone but a closer inspection found a tight group of waterfowl in the centre of the water but barely visible in the haze and reflection of sun on the water.
A dash round the west side to get the sun behind me improved things slightly but still very hard to id the birds and near impossible for photos.
After a lot of eye straining I found 4 Teal, 1 drake Gadwall, 1 f Shoveler and 4 Little Grebe .
The group were in the centre whilst 2 Grebe were in the NW corner and 2 in the SW corner.
3 Cormorant and the usual gulls were also present.
Around 120 photos later I rescued about 6 as record shots but great birds for Ogden and a good find and I.D. from Nigel.
The last Shovelers there were 5 on 26/ 07/ 2012, also found by NK.
BS