BITS AND PIECES

Top Stonechat (pair) Halling Marsh 21st,Little Grebes on the Medway,from the Bucket Wood,6 more were on Brooklands lake 24th,Scaup,(reddish tint to its eyes) Abbey Meads,along with 130 Tufted Duck and 83 Pochard 26th.The latter count is a good number for recent years,considering its still only November.

On December 30th 2012 I saw the above same bird,or one very much like it on the Streamside lake.That also had a reddish tint to its eyes.I thought at the time it was a hybrid,because of its reddish eye colour,but now I know I was wrong.I`ve just been looking at photos of female Scaup and several showed a reddish tint.Could the eye colour be age related,I think it probably is.