A nasty strong freezing wind originating in the north had me thinking it was worth checking the Dog in a Doublet on the off-chance an Auk had made it up to the tidal limit of the Nene. A good choice as there was this Shag sitting on the rocks very close to the sluice. It was hard to pick out at first, especially through the snow flurries blowing across, and I nearly missed it all together. It was perishingly cold in the wind but these shots aren't too bad. At one point a Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail were next to the bird alongside the fish ladder.
The Dog in a Doublet is
the place to see Shag in the PBC area. They can often stay for a while: the last one arrived on 18 Dec 2003 and stayed until 5 Jan 2004. See
here for pictures.
This is the 197th species I've found in the
PBC area. Roll on the 200!
The brownish plumage with prominent pale tips to the wing coverts age this as a first-winter bird.
Click on pics for a larger images.
Shag (
Phalacrocorax aristotelis)
Digiscoped with Nikon Coolpix 995 and Leica APO77 with 20x eyepiece
3 comments:
Great pictures. 'The Dog in a Doublet' sounds like a pub, but I'm sure that can't be right!
Thanks Roger.
The Dog in a Doublet certainly is a pub (right next to the sluice). See:
http://www.real-ale.org.uk/index.php?module=pubguide&func=display&pid=342
It isn't even the only pub with that name. There is another at Bodymoor Heath, also next to a waterway (The Birmingham & Fazeley Canal).
Thank you for braving the elements (and pubs) to bring us these photos!
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