Another visit to try and see the long staying Velvet Scoter and hopefully to see the recently found Jack Snipe. I arrived in bright sunlight which made viewing the return lake a little difficult. An initial scan from the start end failed to find the target bird so I walked along the causeway. There were a few workmen in a boat at the start of the return lake, so a search for the Jack Snipe seen yesterday by Adam Basset was fruitless. A probable Stonechat at the start end was elusive but I did come across another two along the edge of the return lake. Then a duck in flight, flashing white in the wings caught my eye and sure enough, it was the Velvet Scoter. It landed and remained around the 250 metres mark on the return lake for a time before flying virtually the whole length of the 2km lake! I came across it again at the 1250 metre mark while checking out the Wigeon and Teal and managed a few photos. It was almost constantly on the move which made digiscoping difficult. On walking back past the start of the return lake, I scanned for the Jack Snipe, not holding out a lot of hope, as it could have been anywhere along the 8km of vegetation covered lake edges! However, there it was between the two groups of orange buoys where Adam had described. No other birds of note but very happy with the two main target birds.
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| Velvet Scoter showing a foot which is not obviously webbed.. |
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| Jack Snipe Seen near the start end of the return lake. |
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