Another Draycote Visit.

Thursday morning I went over to Draycote Water hoping to see a Great Northern Diver for the first time this year.It was sunny with only a gentle breeze blowing and not too cold for a change.

I decided to walk round to the valve tower as this is where yesterday's GND had been seen.Now for me the valve tower is at the extreme range of my legs any further I go past the point of no return and would have to rest up overnight at rainbow corner!!!!

When I got to the outlet I had only seen some Meadow Pipits and had a brief encounter with a Kestrel

However when I scanned from the jetty over to the inlet I saw a GND quite close in .I raced over there because these chaps can disappear into the distance quite quickly.Unfortunately I was forced to take a rest at rainbow corner so when I finally got to the inlet it had gone from view.Got a bit of a bonus though when I found a Goosander quite close in.

Before I got to the valve tower I met up with Bob Hazell and Francoise and joined them for the walk back.Bob pointed out a couple of female Common Scoters which were too far off for a shot but the GND suddenly showed a bit far off for a decent shot but very nice to see.

We had just passed the inlet when I spotted a leucostic Lapwing amongst a flock of Lapwings coming in to land on the inlet beach.All right I'll be honest no one would believe I'd spotted it it was Bob of course how he did I don't know.I not sure I've spelt leucostic correctly!!!! Anyhow what a great bird to see amongst his mates.Some pretty poor pics taken it was a long way off.