The whistler .......

These guys provide a constant background noise on the Reserve during the winter months, it won't be long before they depart these shores and return back to their breeding sites.

Post number 5. ........

Thousands in the UK in winter, Wigeon are everywhere with their whistling calls and squabbling nature.

The drakes are very handsome birds.

What a satisfying experience to get up close and comfortable with our avian friends.

 

A brace of Wigeon ......

Funny birds Ducks, normally very wary and prone to getting out of the way and distancing themselves either by swimming or on the wing to a distance representing their comfort zone.

At Titchmarsh LNR it therefore came as a bit of a surprise that these two ducks remained feeding at the fringes of the gravel pit when I approached.  

Up close it always strikes me how small and attractive they are.

Titchmarsh Wigeon

Numbers of this winter migrant are really starting to build up at the reserve evidenced not just visually but audibly by their constant two-tone whistling call.

As is so often the case the male of the species is quite a handsome bird compared to the drabber female.

Its always a pleasure to see their return to our inland gravel pits.  

Great light quality for the shot and a high shutter speed really caught the droplets of water.