March ..."Beast From The East" hits the patch!

March started off where February left off...with 4 foot of snow and freezing temperatures !I was off work for a few days so spent it  building Snowmen and plenty of Snowball fighting with the kids!
But on the 4th I decided to put the Snowballs down and  head to the patch. A early start was made and I was at the bridge at 6.45am start in hope of something special .


River Yare at 6.45am

There had been reports of 4x Drake Pintails and with a Redhead Smew on Whitligham the day before I was hopeful.
 As I made my way down the west path I scanned the path and to my surprise  I saw a Barn owl perched ! A Barn owl isn't a bird seen as regularly as I would like here at the patch, In fact it was May last year that I last saw one hunting over the East Marsh and before that June 2016 so I really appreciated this moment.


Barn Owl

I walked on after digi scoping a short clip on my phone and surprised at how close it allowed me  but with the cold and snow laid over the ground ,I'm assuming this bird was struggling with the elements and search for food.
 On the water itself I quickly picked up the Wigeon pair and then a Drake Goosander ! Another to the year list but surprisingly my 4th Goosander of the winter (all 4 drakes).


Drake Goosander

 I continued scanning the Broad and then i picked up a Drake Pintail at rest on the Broad Edge in among the reeds and vegetation. I waited for it to wake to get a proper look at this smart Duck but although I waited an hour (toes were frozen from standing still in the snow ) it didn't wake so decided to move on around to the south side of the Broad. That Pintail was my  124th species for the patch and as happy as I was I really wanted to see it awake so I planned to call back the next day.  I finished the morning off with 12x Shoveler, 22x Pochard,18 x Teal, 52 x Gadwall and 48 x Tufted ducks. Nice to see the 4x Little Grebes still presence too . 

  The following day with still snow laying on the ground I returned to the patch to see if I could locate the Drake Pintail . It wasn't long before I picked it up making its way along the reed edge of the Broad . 

 

(Drake) Pintail

   It was only out on view for 10 minutes before disappearing no doubt resting or up side down feeding. After this I picked  up a female Smew (probably the bird which was on Whitlingham the the day before). Pintail & Smew in the same day , this was proper patch Gold !

(female) Smew

Of note also from this visit was 6 x Little Grebes (my highest ever count for this species since ive been coming here) , 9 x Lapwings, 78 x Tufted 176 x Black headed Gulls. A great few days birding at the patch in the Freezin cold snow but it had its rewards!

Video clip below of some of the birds I saw over them couple of days of the Beast of the East....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH-M12vecWg

 Happy birding
 Ricky