The Eighth Goosander

Was the one that got too close.

Can you guess where this is?

The other nine [there were 2 more after him] stayed at a better distance to avoid infamy.


This was yesterday, when I did what I'd booked this week off to do last year. [Did that sentence make sense?] Yeah, so, I'd realised it had been a very long time since I'd been up to zumerzet to just go birding. [As opposed to chasing Hudwits and things.. ;) ] So, I resolved to fix this and decided that the bit where Jan and Feb meet would be the best balance of day length and cold weather while minimising crowds.

Yeah, that really worked.

Yon GoosygoosyGoosander was bobbing about here;

Cheese?

Unlike the RC Pochards I'd been hoping for. Which were utterly not there at all.


Eeeearlier, I'd been on t' Levels, where things went pretty well, bird-wise;

Mega mega White Thing

Flight shot

Flight shot!!

Flight shot!!!

A Dash of Colour

Less Colour

Whooooo!

-per.

Only two Whooper Swans - which dropped into Noah's just before noon, then vanished when collective eyes went off them [hiding behind an island or driven off by psycho Mutes?] - but the joy deserved two pics.

At least 4 Marsh Harriers - 1w, 2w f., ad f., ad m. - which all showed from Noah's [though as Decoy was helpfully 'closed for refurbishment', no better shots]. Couple of flying Bitterns [alas my camera sulked and refused to properly focus on the point-blank flypast...], Beardies were less keen to be immortalised - you know they're being naughty when you can get a Cetti's!! - but what can you do?

Unfortunately, I was just too late to catch the Starlings on electrons - just think about the locusts from Planet Earth II and you've got it..! - being distracted by going "Wooooaaah!", though I doubt they'd have come out properly, as it was still dimpsy.


Also of note, the maker was elusive but not the evidence of passage;

That's the ubiquitous scaling 10p, btw

There's been a lot of activity since last I wandered about that way, with paths improved [which is something of a two-edged sword, what with all these people using them. I mean, really...] and hides built.
I would have liked to put in something about the fancy crowd-sourced hide overlooking Meare Heath tanks, but was unamused to find it locked. Very public. Very considerate. The people can pay but they may not use. Hm.


Definitely open was the big fancy thing over the road;

The road to Avalon

Actual height? Ooohh....

Mandatory hill shot

Good location, good height, nice and roomy.. Yes. But unfortunate design flaws;

Oh dear

The now-expected badly-designed raspberry windows were a given, but the massive gaps? And why do they need such huge chunks of wood [which even staff admit will likely fall to bits inside 10 years due to construction issues]? They're not sicking another storey on, after all.
Also, plastic school chairs [lovely and noisy, though I admit back support is a welcome thing] and windows on one side only, as they don't seem to realise what internal partitions are for. Still, at least it is an actual hide and not a wide-open to view and weather pergola like Tor View.. 

I've said it before, I'll say it again, look at the Black Hole for properly designed hides [well, there's the odd minor issue with the seating.. ;) ].
It's a symptom of what's happened to the RSPB; once you get above the wardens and volunteers who get their hands dirty and look at the desk drivers, you find it's largely run by professional charity workers, who don't actually know much about birds and certainly don't wear bins unless being photographed. So you see examples like this; design in terms of artistic eco-engineering that miss the primary requirement. But never mind, they tick lots of boxes and look so nice on paper.


Ahem.

Here's another new [re]build;

Recreation of the Sweet Track

Tucked away but worth looking for. I must admit to surprise that it's not fenced off. I mean, the HSE would have a fit if anyone actually walked along it, right? [[Maybe I shouldn't be writing this..?]]


Now, here's an idea. Having seen the lengths [and tons of chippings] required to keep tracks about the Levels open, can we not take a leaf from the Ancestors' ways and do as they did. Mud and flooding are not anywhere near the issues when you're elevated, and with a wider, more stable version [Flag Fen, anyone?] of their design, we can move people without creating artificial partitions.

Just a thought.


Finally, I have a health and safety concern to raise, as it seems the safeguards put in place are woefully inadequate to protect the public from a terminal encounter;

The Great Serpent of Somerset..

All this and I hardly got rained on at all. And I haven't even got to the other fun thing I found on Noah's Lake. Namely, this pretty little character;

Between the Wigeon and the Tufty

Oh, I say....



Be Seeing You..