Last birdwatch of the year

Final birdwatch of the year and I headed off to Hornsea Mere with hopes of a final year tick in the form of a Long Tailed Duck, despite a good search it was not to be though, Kirkholme Point was fairly windy and a lot of stuff was quite distant but the Gulls hanging around for scraps looked good in the morning sunshine, I went to check out the new Wassand hide, it offers good views over Decoy Bay and there was certainly a good selection of Wildfowl up that end but nothing out of the ordinary then after being informed the Long Tailed Duck had been seen from the second field on the South side late morning I decided to go back to Kirkholme Point for another scan but still no joy, as I left I stopped halfway along the North side and made my way to the little hide there, it was restricted viewing as I couldn’t get in the hide but it was closer to the birds on that part of the Mere but that last chance soon faded, a couple of Buzzards cavorting in a nearby sheep field were a joy to watch though. So a final talley of 268 for the year with three new Birds and four new Butterflies, see what the new year has in store, a happy one to you all.

maybe next year I'll get close enough for a decent pic of one of these