The main excitement today was news of a drake Smew at Old Moor which appeared on the pager this afternoon. It was of course The Michael Clegg Memorial Birdrace day and birders throughout Yorkshire were doing their local patch which meant I was in Scarborough! A few quick phone calls and all became clear. Clear that is, that it was unclear if there really had been a drake Smew at all. At least one reliable local birder was on site and knew nothing about it. Others soon arrived but there was no sign of either the bird or anyone who had seen it. Rumour has it that the 'drake Smew' was in fact a drake Goldeneye, but there soon followed mumblings of birdrace skulduggery! Who knows?
Birds that definitely were present today however, included a Bittern roosting on the Reedbeds, 390 Gadwall, 48 Pochard, 53 Goosanders, 5 Goldeneye, Shelduck, 250 Golden Plover, 2 Redshank, Green Sand', 4 Brambling and at least 940 Pink-feet flying west (8 skeins) plus a Little Owl at Broomhill.
Of interest a Blackbird picked up dead at Old Moor yesterday had been rung as an adult male on 30th October 2004.
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