Cheeky work twitch

I had a meeting in Staines today which was temptingly close to a herd of Bewick's found at Harmondsworth just north of Heathrow Airport. After the meeting I drove round to where they'd been reported and, driving slowly and peering through a hedge saw what looked like a group of swans in a field with a bunch of gulls. Lept out of the car in my suit and scanned the field - 16 Bewick's Swans including 3 juveniles. I dived back into the car to change into jeans and put some more jumpers on, grab scope and camera, etc. This took about five minutes and, emerging from the car, saw the flock in flight clearing the hedge in front of me - managed to get off a few shots. I'd foolishly left my 1.4x converter on the lens so had to focus manually since there wasn't time to change it.

Briefly stopped off at Staines Reservoir to check for the Great Northern Divers seen yesterday but not sign on a fairly quiet trip. Highlight were 35-40 Goldeneye, good numbers of Wigeon and Shoveler and a flock of 30 or so Fieldfare on the west bank.

Chewy Fudge Dip

Quick stop at Chew Valley Res on the way back from a work meeting. No sign of the Fudge Duck on Herriots Pool - just about 30 white arsed Tufties. Also a few Shelduck, some Wigeon still left, on the main reservoice also a single male and a couple of female Goldeneye. On the west shore of the reservoir also a bunch of small birds singing in the woods (Coal Tit, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Wren, Song and Mistle Thrushes, Greenfinch, Goldfinch) and also a Green Sand that flew over calling.