Sunday 9 February 2014

Green-Winged Teal - Willington Access

The Green-winged Teal was present again Sunday 9th February however access remains an issue but the site can be accessed with care.

The Willington LNR site and access track to the viewing platforms are flooded but with wellies and a little care you can get to all platforms.  The track is predominantly flooded from the DWT vehicle post to P1 and a little bit beyond.  After P2 the track is OK with little bits of standing water but nothing too bad.

Parking - at the moment I have been parking in the new Willington surgery car park and continuing on foot through the quarry and on towards the DWT information post / fishing club gates.  From the vehicle post down the lane it is quite deep and will come within mm of the tops of wellies.  I would advise waterproof over trousers over wellies as this may give a little bit more grace.  The water is particularly deep by the gate used to access the cattle / grazing grassland (just before P1) but again with care is passable.

From P1 to P2 it is flooded but fine in wellies and from P2 to the bottom of the track at P4 the path is fine with little in the way of standing water and what is there is only a couple of inches deep.

All the duck on site are very flighty and easily spooked but the GW Teal was again on site.  Today the drake was associating with Eurasian Teal at the back (north) of the lake in the reed / water margins and fairly elusive but views were good on and off to pick him up and confirm ID.

There are also plenty of Shoveler on the lake as well as 3 Pintail (2 males and 1 female) and a single Shelduck.

The GW Teal was seen by two people today.  Good luck to anybody that gives it a go.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks to Mark I was the 2nd person in question to have seen the GWT.A day I'll never forget many thanks Mark for making this a lifer for me.

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