Goosander roost

A good day, involving a socially-distanced working lunch with Chris to sort out some of next year's projects - potentially we could be quite busy as several that were cancelled in 2020 have re-appeared. 

This was followed by a site visit to Etton High Meadows,  to familiarise myself with the site before a Zoom meeting tomorrow to discuss options for improving the wildflower richness of the grassland. It's only a fairly small site so I had time for a late afternoon walk down the bridleway and back along the Maxey Cut. 

The first bird I saw was a distant female Marsh Harrier, who flew over again near the end of my walk, allowing me a closer look to confirm the identification. Around sunset a large flock of Linnets, with over 30 individuals, was flying around on the bank of the Maxey Cut, landing for a short while in the top of an ash tree, where they almost appeared to glow in the light of the setting sun, before disappearing into the Etton-Maxey NR. 

As dusk crept in, a flock of sixty-six lapwings swirled past in the distance. But, for me, the best came last - approximately twenty Goosander roosting on Silt Pit - mostly males but with a few females as well. Several of the males did a rather half-hearted courtship display -   a sign that spring's in the air?