Canvasback (front left bird) photo courtesy of Shaun Ferguson
2023 the year that keeps on giving delivered again when news broke of a drake Canvasback at Abberton Reservoir in Essex. It was 21 years since the last record so it was going to be popular and so myself and Matt Moreton headed down to get to the causeway for dawn and nab a parking space. As it was when we arrived we were the 2nd vehicle to park up, the first being George who’d made his own way down!
We started scanning for the Pochard flock and as we did around 200 of them flew over and landed but despite grilling them our quarry wasn’t in there. A Great White Egret was followed by 3 flyby Cattle Egret and 2 Littles. 7 Egyptian Geese flew over and a juvenile Great Northern Diver was seen distantly.
The 3 of us decided to see if we could get further around the reservoir so wandered off but to no avail. As we walked back towards the now 70+ birders they all started running. The bird had been found from the viewing platform at nearby Billets Farm. Trying to run in wellies with a sore Achilles wasn’t possible and so I was the last one to arrive. I set my scope up and found the flock of Pochard but trying to pick out the bird was proving difficult given viewing conditions and distance but thankfully the bird decided to help us all out by moving to the front and left hand end of the flock so it was easier to see it’s big black ski slope of a bill and slightly paler body allowing us to get CANVASBACK on our lists. After maybe a minute of viewing the flock moved out of view. Due to me needing to be back home for many hours of DIY we headed off home which was a good move as it went missing for a few hours until it was found from the other causeway.
Fingers crossed for another 1-2 surprises before the end of the year.
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