Velvet Scoter on the Welland

Extremely high rainfall throughout the early winter period culminated in the River Welland exceptionally bursting its banks in two places between Deeping and Spalding in early January, flooding hundreds of acres of historical washland that have not been flooded in decades. Not good news for local farmers, but it has been superb for birding, attracting thousands of waterbirds to feed in fields that are normally pretty dry and birdless.

Among the huge numbers of commoner species have been some exciting scarcities. A female Long-tailed Duck appeared at Cowbit Wash within a couple of days of it flooding, and there has been a steady build-up of Ruddy Turnstones there as well (27 the most recent high, an exceptional total for an inland site). But the rarest bird so far has been the Velvet Scoter that I found rather fortuitously on the Welland on 27 January. As I poked my head over the floodbank near Cradge Farm, hands full of tripod, phone and hat, I flushed an interesting brown duck with some Mallard that promptly took off and revealed white secondaries. For a moment it looked as it was departing, but it came back down on the river a little bit further downstream. It's been quite skittish, but lingered into early February and gave local birders a welcome area tick. The last PBC record was at Bainton from 13-19 November 1983, so it had been a while.

2cy Velvet Scoter, Cradge Bank, Lincolnshire, 28 January 2024