23rd April. Hail the dragon slayer

That Saint George had the right idea when faced with a problematic reptile - kill the bastard. If only it was that easy and legal. Hail to dragon slayers everywhere.

A nice evening stroll around RV's Main Lake produced diddly squat, but a quick scan of the Reserve from the car window proved otherwise. Whilst checking a party of Tufted Ducks I glanced a Wigeon with an obvious white rear flank. My mind raced back to my New Year Shetland trip when a similar sight caught my eye - SHIT!! American Wigeon. After fighting Beth's bike to get to my scope I found myself watching the Sheffield areas first American Wigeon - hoorah. Okay it's not the rarest bird in the world but it still gets you that all too unfamiliar rare bird buzz. The irony of all this is that every winter we get in excess of 300 Wigeon down here which we thoroughly check specifically for its American cousin. The total wigeon present today was 2 Common Wigeon and 1 American Wigeon!!