The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Hi,

Was looking out from the East hide with Alex Parker at 4.40pm when we saw two ducks flying onto the central scrape, one was clearly a shoveler, the other was smaller and had a very large solid pale bluish-white upperwing panel. When we saw it on the water it revealed a very large whitish stripe/crescent along the base of the bill. Also the supercilum was not that pale, much more teal-like than garganey. We were quite a distance from the bird and lost it from view within just a few seconds. We could see it was on the pool near the Reedbed hide, so we started walking around to get a closer view. Unfortunately before we got there both birds took off. As it flew off I was able to note that the secondaries were dark and most crucially there was no white trailing edge to the wing - although we weren't able to see the greenish speculum. Unfortunately the two birds flew off over the saltmarsh and towards Kirton Marsh. Presumably this was an eclipse male blue-winged teal, how frustrating!, but with luck it will return, so keep your eyes peeled!

John & Alex Parker

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Contact: recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

Also seen/heard this evening;

Whinchat - 4+ (reedbed)
Spotted redshank - 1
Greenshank - 1
Green sandpiper - 1
Avocet - 1

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Contact: recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk