American Horned Lark

The title should perhaps read American Horned Lark Revisited. We had been to Staines Reservoir to see the bird back at the end of November last year. It was another of  those cases of "you should have been here ten minutes ago". It had been showing well at a distance of about ten metres but as we arrive it flew away. We waited a couple of hours in the freezing cold and did eventually get to see it but at a distance of about 200 metres. You could make it out through the telescope but there was no chance of a record shot.

The bird has been AWOL for about a month, probably resident, out of sight, on one of the other reservoirs around the area. Having seen it reported again we were back on the case. Today was all about getting that record shot that we had missed last time.

Everything looked perfect when we arrived. It was a lot warmer than last time and the sun was shining. The bird wasn't around but other birders told us that it was returning to the same spot on a regular basis. We congratulated ourselves on not having travelled yesterday in the pouring rain and settled down to wait.

It was only a few minutes later, when the bird appeared, that we realised that from a photographic point of view things weren't so perfect. A low and very bright sun along with strong reflections off the water made it very difficult to get a picture. Perhaps yesterdays wet conditions would have given better results.

It was really a case of just trying to grab a shot every time the bird turned side on and caught some sun on its features.

There was no chance of that show stopper picture we were hoping for but at least we had our record shots. This is not a bird that I am likely to see in this country again and we were just happy to get a second chance.

Being part way round the M25 we decided to press on towards Rickmansworth and visit Stockers Lake. This was a chance to record a year tick on Red-crested Pochards, not a bird that we always manage to see. We found them easily enough Two groups consisting of four males and two females, but our visit seemed to have coincided with siesta time. They were on the banks or in deep cover and picture opportunities were limited. The shot below grabbed just as they were settling down to roost.

Picture of some nice sharp branches

Lunchtime and early afternoon is clearly not the best time to visit Stockers, even the Parakeets were asleep.

Overall, a good day out. Even the drive around the M25 didn't seem so bad today.