Elton Reservoir

Tufted ducks

It was a surprisingly sunny morning so I set off for Elton Reservoir to see if the first-Winter scaup that was there all last week had decided to linger awhile.

Car park feeding station 

I got off the 471 just after the petrol station and walked down to Nigel's Lane and thence to the car park by the sailing club. The hedgerows were fizzing with robins, blue tits and goldfinches. As were the feeders in the tree by the car park. They were joined by great tits, greenfinches and long-tailed tits. There was a notable absence of chaffinches, perhaps they were put off by the wind which every so often would shake all the goldfinches off the feeders. A buzzard passed overhead and was chi-acked by magpies.

Elton Sailing Club 

I had a squint at the reservoir, very much in the manner of Jack Palance staring into the sun. The reservoir was very full. A lone mute swan sat in the corner, there were no Canada geese and just half a dozen mallards drifting by the bank. Out on the water the silhouettes of dozens of coots and black-headed gulls bobbed about on the choppy water.

I looked at the state of the path and concluded that I wouldn't be having much fun negotiating the muddier stretches while trying to pick out the runners and riders amongst wobbly silhouettes. I walked round past the sailing club to have a look over the Reservoir from the South bank. As I passed the farmhouse a kestrel flew over and hovered over the garden at head height before quickly drifting down the hedgerow and over the fields.

Elton Reservoir 

As I climbed onto the South bank the issue of sun in my eyes became suddenly theoretical as the wind blew a bank of thick, dark clouds our way. I disturbed a grey wagtail as I started walking on the puddle-strewn path and it disappeared into the grass down the bank.

Great crested grebe 

The change of light greatly worked in my favour. I could now pick out the small raft of tufted ducks amongst the coots by the mouth of the creek and the common gulls amongst the black-headed gulls. There weren't many large gulls about and they were 2:1 herring gulls to lesser black-backs. A couple of great crested grebes drifted about, half a dozen goldeneyes popped up from nowhere and there were lots more tufted ducks but I wasn't seeing me a scaup.

Tufted ducks

The weather got progressively less pleasant but I persevered. I got to the point where I decided to concentrate on the gulls on the irrational premise that the scaup would turn up if I stopped looking for it. A drake goosander turned up instead.

Goosander

I reached the path to Withins Reservoir and had one last look around for the scaup on Elton Reservoir. The rules of dramatic suspense would have it that this is the point at which the scaup hove into view. It didn't.

All the Canada geese were on the field behind the trees to the North of Elton Reservoir. The field by the path, which I'm told is Capsticks, was full of horses and woodpigeons but, strangely, no wagtails, meadow pipits or lapwings. I've yet to get meadow pipits onto the year list despite the visits to Chat Moss and the Sefton coast.

Walking to Withins Reservoir 

The path up to Within Reservoir was a bubbling brook. The reservoir was full to overflowing, very different to my last visit. There were more Canada geese by the far bank with a handful of mallards but any hopes the scaup might be hanging out here for a change came to naught.

Withins Reservoir 

I walked back to the path that leads to St Andrews Road. The weather had brightened which seemed to provoke a couple of song thrushes into song. I walked down to the bus stop to get the 98 into Manchester and passed singing collared doves and starlings along the way. Yet another dip — smew, shore lark, white-fronted goose, now scaup. I felt a bit despondent for a few minutes until I noticed that I was still matching last year's progress with the year list. It's a marathon, not a sprint.