After getting a message that there was a Manx Shearwater at Covenham, we set off this afternoon to take a look. On arrival no other birders were present and the weather was dismal - dull, wet and windy. We were soon joined by Mike Tarrant and Barry Clarkson and we scanned the reservoir from the shelter of the yacht club, The Manx Shearwater was quickly spotted on the far side of the reservoir.
Whilst Linda was having a look at it through the 'scope she spotted a phalarope. At that distance and in the far from ideal conditions, positive identification was not possible but we thought it was a grey. The phalarope went missing for about two hours and then Mike re-found it from the south wall -by this time the rain had stopped and conditions were improving. It was then thought to be a possible red-necked but the bird was flighty and elusive and not giving good views. The Manx was also elusive, spending most of its time in the middle - getting harried by the gulls.
Later, Terry West arrived on the scene and from the south wall noticed that two phalaropes were present! We dashed round to the south end only to find that the birds had moved closer to the east wall but were still at some distance.
The upshot was that no decent images were obtained of the phalaropes - and we could not see them when we left at dusk, but it is now considered likely that both were grey phal's. The Manx Shearwater was still present at dusk.
An eventful, but somewhat frustrating afternoon in the company of Mike & Barry, Keith Robinson, Steve Meek, Terry West, Steve Tarrant & Dave Foston.
Roy.
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