Wednesday 18th January

(Early Rain), Cloudy, SW 4 easing > 1

I was well chuffed to arrive at Cortonwood and find no less than 8 Shoveler on the lake. They appeared very unsettled and took to the air everytime a dogwalker went by ;



Then i had a WARREN moment and got very excited, about.....................a Coot. But this wasn`t one of the resident birds. Oh no, it was a colour-ringed interloper from the W/NW of the country. I took a record shot and went home to do some research on the bird. Finally found the ringing project responsible and within a few minutes i had a reply from a guy called Kane. He confirmed it was one of their birds, but unfortunately at some point down the line, the bird had lost a colour ring from its left leg. As a result, he couldn`t give me any details other than the bird was rung in either Cheshire or Lancashire.
Nevertheless, it`s still a great record & shows clearly the movements/dispersal of what you would regard to be a sedentary species. And it makes a change from the usual colour-ringed Mute Swans ;