A Freezing Day at Abberton

2nd February 2018

I have often said that Abberton Reservoir is nowhere near as cold during the Winter these days as it used to be in the 1960s but today was an exception, as there was an absolutely freezing north-easterly wind and the only thing that was missing was the horizontal sleet. However, protected by six layers of thermal protection the intrepid explorers stepped out into the blast to see what was around.

Of the 10 Smew present, the only birds on show were two redheads which were fishing close to the reedbed by the weir.

..............and this is the rare Abberton subspecies, the Two-headed Smew.

Goldeneye often keep their distance, but today a drake was fishing quite close to the bank. When fishing they spend little time on the surface so this is a typical view.



But with a little patience waiting for both the bird and the sun to be present, it was possible to get some nice close-ups

But the star of the show today was this sinensis Cormorant which, unsually, was fishing quite close to the bank.

After a couple of diving attempts it eventually surfaced with a skimmer Bream which you would automatically expect to be far too large for the bird to swallow.

After a few moments of manoeuvring it into position and trying to gulp it down, it eventually succeeded and still had enough energy to fly off. What an amazing experience.