Well I thought I would hit Tophill Low at opening time, which was 9am, unfortunately due to heavy motorway traffic it was just after 10am. Settling in and getting the gear together, I then decided on doing the ‘D’ reservoir, with the scope first.
Lots of wildfowl were present on ‘D’ reservoir, so I started scanning, Pochard, Wigeon, Goldeneye, Shoveler, Gadwall in smaller numbers were Coots, Cormorants, Mallard, Little and Great Crested Grebes, Greylag and Canada Geese, it wasn’t until after about an hour of scanning that I found the Male Smew, been a while since I’d seen one of these, so good connect again, it was about dinner time now, so I moved out, stopping at the feeders first seeing Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Blackbird and Robin.
I went back to the car had some dinner and swapped scope for camera, then headed off towards the ‘O’ reservoir. I took in all the various hides on the way, but there was nothing present, I managed to see a flock of Goldfinch, Robin and Chaffinch, but nothing on the waters, due to the ice, also heard a Cetti’s Warbler.
The ‘O’ reservoir held a large amount of wildfowl, just like the ‘O’ reservoir, there were good numbers of Teal on here along with, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, a few Pintail and lots of Coots.
I then walked around the ‘O’ reservoir hides and had the same problem here as with the previous hides, ice. I also moved on to the Watton Hide , here I found birds, Teal, Mallard, Mute Swan and a Male Goosander. Moving on then back to the ‘D’ reservoir and the newer hide, but saw nothing new from here, so I moved onto the North Marsh Hide, bumping into a couple of Roe Deer on the way, it was ice free here, but no birds. I went back too the Reception Hide and the feeders , adding Dunnock and Treecreeper to the list.
Video of the Day can be seen HERE
Birds seen at Tophill: Black headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Canada Goose, Chaffinch, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Goose, Herring Gull, Little Grebe, Mallard, Mute Swan, Pintail, Pochard, Robin, Shoveler, Smew, Teal, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Wigeon (29) 68/200
Huddsbirder 