Two new ducks...

We started today at Brand's Bay in Poole, in search of the juvenile surf scoter which has been there for several days. This regular trans-Atlantic vagrant breeds in Alaksa and Northern Canada and normally winters off the coast of north USA and on the Great Lakes, but small numbers arrive in Western Europe every winter. Most are adult males, a magnificent black sea duck with a bright orange and white beak and a remarkably shiny white eye. Sadly this one was a juvenile, a far more drab, brown, bird, yet to develop the resplendent beak and eye of its father, and looking rather more similar to its even more drab mother. Well that was what I was expecting...

Juvenile Surf Scoter, Brand's Bay, 23/11/13

We found it almost as soon as we had arrived, swimming rather distantly out in the middle of the bay. Contrary to my expectations, the bird really was stunning, with its distinctive eider-like head and white spot behind the eye. It is amazing to think of it crossing the Atlantic alone in its first year of life. My photograph does not do this magnificent bird justice at all. It was a new species for me, and an excellent one at that to see this side of the Atlantic.

Brand's Bay was teeming with other waterfowl, particularly great crested grebes, brent geese, red-breasted mergansers, wigeon and shelducks, with several pintail and a female goldeneye very close in to the shore also present, along with three grey plovers. As we walked back up to our car, we came across a group of four (!) Dartford warblers flitting about the heather. What a great place!

We then headed towards Portland. At Ferrybridge, there were several hundred brent geese present, as well as a very nice total of 130 Mediterranean gulls. Sadly there was no sign of either of the black brant which winter there each year. The highlight for me was the presence of three knots, my first in Dorset.

Knot with a Mediterranean Gull in the background, Ferrybridge, 23/11/13

Unfortunately a brief check of Portland Harbour resulted in nothing more than several red-breasted mergansers and great crested grebes, and a distant small grebe, most likely a black-necked, so we moved on to Abbotsbury. We hoped to find the wintering scaup there, and eventually a tedious search through a distant large tufted duck and pochard flock, as viewed from the World War II tank traps at the corner of the swannery, resulted in finding three scaup together. This scarce winter visitor to Britain from its breeding grounds in Siberia and north-eastern most Scandinavia was a new species for me, and particularly satisfying as we had missed them last year at the Swannery.

Scaup, Abbotsbury Swannery, 23/11/13

Sadly they were extremely distant (hence the rubbish record shot!) due to the difficulties of viewing birds in the swannery during the winter months when it is closed, and the lack of public access to the fleet side of Chesil Beach, but their clear pale backs stood out from the tufted ducks. It should be getting harder and harder for me to find two new species on one day, but I'm not having any difficulty yet. I hope that continues!