It had been a busy week with journeys to and from Scotland, early starts each day, and then a trip to see the (Black-crowned) night heron at Ossett. I'd decided to rest for the remainder of the Easter weekend, well I had until Gareth Blockley (@grimsbury_birds) posted an update to say that a male common scoter had been located at Grimsbury Reservoir - it was raining, and I hadn't yet had breakfast but what the hell.
Within 20 minutes I was on the bank and watching the scoter with Gareth and Mike Pollard (@mikepnature), the bird staying distant. To be honest the main reason for being there was his other report - a reeling grasshopper warbler, but it was currently silent. Mike and I tried to decide which side of the reservoir would be best to get photos, the answer was probably either as it insisted on staying roughly in the middle (occasionally drifting south but still in the middle). We were joined by Edwin Barson (@EBarsonphoto) for only a short while as he was on the clock. Eventually Mike also departed leaving me to see if the bird would come any closer. It did and it didn't ... a swan swam by which seemed to spook the scoter and it swam ahead at some speed, eventually taking to air and making a short circuit and then came back in to land. Snap snap snap. I waited some more but it refused to play ball - soaked I retired to the house for breakfast, unsuccessful at even hearing the grasshopper warbler.
Later in the afternoon I picked up my phone to see that Kevin Heath (@kev07713) had posted on the WhatsApp Group that he'd located a common redstart at Grimsbury Reservoir. This had eluded me so far this year and so I was off again, joining Kev and Adrian Tysoe watching from the perimeter of the reservoir down to the other side of the cattle field to the west. Initially the bird was feeding out of view, but after ten minutes or so I got my tick. We checked out the area for the grasshopper warbler but again nothing. We had three or four views of the redstart before we again retired, now both of us being on the clock.
Year List: 187.
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