I am sure there are times when birds conspire to play tricks on us birdwatchers. I am not talking about the occasions when they cleverly disguise their identity, embarrassing as this can be (as I found with the Rough-legged Buzzard/Osprey last month). No, I am referring to their tendency to behave in the most unexpected ways. It started when I was driving just a few miles from home. As I crossed the Louth Navigation Canal at Thoresby Bridge a quick glance alerted me to something quite unusual on the pond. I pulled over a few hundred yards further on, reversed into a track and drove back to the bridge.
There was still about 10 cm of snow on the canal bank but I climbed the style with my camera over my shoulder and approached the pond using the bank as cover. My stealth was rewarded with the sight of a barn owl flying along the bank towards me, unaware of my presence and with a vole clutched firmly in its talons. I managed a quick shot in the fading light before it saw me and veered to its left over the canal. A few yards further on, where I estimated I was level with the end of the pond, I carefully crept up the bank and peered over, trying desperately to avoid alarming my quarry.
It was exactly what I had expected! Not a rarity, but a bird of some significance that I had only ever seen it in its breeding habitat on the rivers of the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District. It was a male Goosander in its finest breeding plumage together with two females with their distinctive brown heads and white 'chins'. I managed a couple of shots before they took off, then I went home to thaw out my feet.
Two days later and after a week of overcast skies the sun was shining and the snow sparkling - ideal conditions for walking with camera in hand. Leaving the car behind I walked along the river and headed across the field to the canal. Snipe rose from every ditch and flew chaotically into the distance, warning others of my presence as they went. Just before I reached the canal I spent several minutes trying to get a decent shot of the Goldfinches as they danced on the frozen teasels - and cursed the power of my lens.
What I saw when I looked along the water soon made me forget the inadequacies of my equipment. Swimming towards me was a group of Goosander - not three this time but seven, four males and three females. They took off and flew in a circle over the fields before making a pass almost directly over my head.
It looked like being a good day so, after photographing a Redwing and a Fieldfare and failing miserably with a Snipe, I went home for lunch then drove to the nearby Blow Wells. Several Gadwall and Teal and lots more Snipe almost completed the day's bird watch - but not quite. I drove home, turned into the drive and took my customary glance left and right to scan the river for wildlife. I couldn't believe my eyes. Had they followed me home or were they 'taking the Mick'? Seven Goosander, four males and three females. I could have stayed at home and seen them from the bedroom window - but it wouldn't have been as enjoyable.
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