white head and white spot.
without close up of amount of bare skin and pattern around gape.
With strong westerly winds and heavy rain showers I walked the dogs over Foxhill and then set off on my own to Mixenden reservoir to find it well sheltered in the lee of Hunter Hill but dark clouds and some very heavy rain showers.
As with most visits to Mixy there was plenty to keep me occupied
though nothing out of the ordinary. The pair of Goldeneye were probably the long staying pair going by the way they acted being very wary and always keeping the width or length of the reservoir away.
This pair probably come from an area with very little disturbance and are not used to the public whereas some Goldeneye are very confining swimming right up in front of you. Mallards demonstrate this well with some taking bread from peoples hand whilst the really wild Mallards like the ones at Fly Flatts keep a good distance away.
The female Goosander is still present after several weeks now as well as the 2 Moorhen. Otherwise , the only other wildfowl was 12 Mallard.
A single Cormorant was diving before drying off on the depth gauge and looked well in its full courtship plumage showing a white head and white pre breeding spot on its flank. The white head does usually point to the variant sinensis though some carbo can also show the white head pre breeding and without a real close up shot of the birds face , which was impossible at this distance, it cannot be proved as the only definite way to split the two is by seeing the amount of bare skin and the pattern around the birds gape.
Around 40 small gulls on the water and just 2 Herring gulls which soon left >SW during one of the heavy rain showers.
The west bank waterside trees held 3 Goldcrest and 4 Blue Tit.
BS