Finally Got To CWP

I have been hoping to get to the Water Park after work all week but have been finishing a little too late to make it worthwhile. With no chance of going at the weekend I was determined to make it over there this afternoon. However it was almost a quarter-past two before I finished so normally wouldn’t have bothered. But as several Smew having been reported over the last couple of days I decided that a short visit was better than nothing. On the way there a good number of Lapwings were seen near to the Leigh crossroads. A look on 28 and 28a found just the regular ducks and a Snipe that flushed as I walked along, but I had a result on 29 with three redhead Smew showing well. After watching them for a few minutes I chose to miss going to 30 so I could look in at Twitchers. ( I later found out a male was on 30!). 74 turned up my first Goldeneye and Shelduck of the year and a real bonus was a Great Black-backed Gull, a bird I somehow managed to miss in Wiltshire last year. The new pits along WIckwater Lane had four more Shelguck and the aptly named Pochard Lake had a good few Red-crested Pochard on it.