A tale of two estuaries

A short break with the family over half-term in Cornwall gave me the chance to catch up with two species of American duck, both relatively rare on these shores. First on the Hayle, a Green-winged Teal, the American cousin of our Eurasian Teal. We were staying in Hayle, so I nipped out before breakfast to look for it. There are usually plenty of Teal to sift through out in the channel viewable from the causeway over the head of the estuary but on arrival I could see just half a dozen. To my surprise, the Green-winged was one of them and it fed quite close in the shallows on a rising tide.

Drake Green-winged Teal on the Hayle Estuary

This was the entire Teal flock - what chance that one of the six would be the Green-winged?

Green-winged Teal

 A bit of aggression between drakes of the two species

When the Green-winged Teal stood on the mud a metal ring was apparent

Do any ringers out there think this look like a bird band from a North American scheme?

My second American duck of the trip was seen on the way home - an American Wigeon at Exminster Marshes, at the top of the Exe Estuary and just a few miles detour from our route home up the M5. Several large Wigeon flocks were evident on arrival - a slightly daunting prospect to search through them all - but a tip-off from a local birder who was just leaving suggested the bird I was looking for might be in one of the closer flocks. And so it was, picked up with just about my first scan of the bins.

A Spoonbill was also at Hayle

A young bird with horn-coloured bill and some black in the wing tips

First winter drake American Wigeon at Exminster Marshes

The Wigeon flocks were much larger than the Teal flock on the Hayle...

...but the American Wigeon was quite easy to pick out being near the front of the nearest flock

The American Wigeon spent most of the time feeding intently - a rare view with the head raised here

Birthday treats

It was my birthday recently - a stuttering but undefeated innings of 48, in case you were wondering. To celebrate almost half-a-century of under-achievement I cleared my professional decks, booked the day off work and did some birding around Poole Harbour. The children were at school and Claire was at work, affording me the luxury of neglecting the entire family to go looking for birds without guilt.

Lesser Yellowlegs at Lytchett Bay

Green-winged Teal, just leaving Lytchett Bay

Redhead Smew distantly in Holes Bay

The once fierce competition between Lytchett Bay and Swineham as Poole Harbour birding locations, a fire stoked in these pages on more than one occasion in the past, has tailed off somewhat in recent years. Lytchett has gone from strength to strength under sympathetic management by the RSPB, being diligently scoured by Top 10 Patchwork Challengers (impressive, though I still think Patchwork Challenge sounds like a needlecraft contest). Swineham has gone downhill under a less wildlife-friendly regime, being wilfully neglected by feckless regulars like yours truly. So much so that I felt barely a flicker of shame in shunning the latter for the former to go looking for Lytchett's two long-staying winter rarities from the Americas: a Lesser Yellowlegs and drake Green-winged Teal.

Dark-bellied Brent Geese at Baiter Park

Coot, Poole Park

Drake Goldeneye and Red-breaster Merganser were out in the middle of Poole Park lake

The Yellowlegs was easy enough, sitting out nicely with a Redshank for comparison, the only two medium-sized waders on one of the pools. The Teal required a bit more luck: it flew off just after I arrived, but not before a kindly soul had let me have a quick squint at it through his scope, hence the dodgy record shot above, hurriedly snapped as it pelted away. Around the corner a returning redhead Smew was in Holes Bay for its third winter, while Poole Park held a few photogenic fowl as always. I caught up with a trio of Great White Egrets slightly further afield at Longham Lakes before heading over on the Sandbanks ferry to complete a circuit of the Harbour.

A lone Black-tailed Godwit was on the shore of Poole Park lake

Little Egret, Poole Park lake

Three Great White Egrets at Longham Lakes

The last hour of daylight was spent at Studland, where the raucous calls of a couple of Sandwich Terns were a cruel reminder of just how far away is spring, and the even more raucous calls of the local Ring-necked Parakeets were an equally cruel reminder of just how far away and warm is their native India.

Ring-necked Parakeet, Studland

Ring-necked Parakeet, Studland

Sandwich Tern, Studland

I would say watching the sun go down at Studland completed the day, but that wasn't really the end of it as on arriving home there was a birthday present to play with: the US Capitol building from the Lego Architecture range. Quite repetitive assembling the orderly lines of neoclassical columns and other fiddly bits, but ridiculously satisfying, a pure indulgence, and, I am reliably informed by the teenager of the house, substantially more socially acceptable than making an Airfix model. The perfect gift for the middle-aged man-boy in your life.

The US Capitol Building courtesy of the Lego Architecture range - George Washington laid the first brick. If you listen carefully this model makes a strange whirring noise: the sound of a miniature George turning in his grave.