Wetland birds

On a walk around the Reserve in the first week of January, it was lovely to see a pair of Shoveler ducks and two male Teal. The Teal were so timid that they flew away at the slightest disturbance but the Shoveler were slightly less scared. There have never been recorded sightings of these two species on the Reserve before so it is a real treat to see them. We managed to get this poor photo of the male Shoveler. It is possible that these birds arrived here as many other lakes were frozen over and it has driven them to find open water. Strangely, the WWA lake never seems to freeze over when other lakes do. There has also been a Water Rail, a pair of Little Grebes and a Kingfisher about this week.