Quite a rarity for Cambridgeshire, an immature drake Velvet Scoter has been showing reasonably well at Grafham Water so an early start (well for me) to catch the sun was in order. It would be a first for me, both to see one and to photograph one.

Arriving on the dam, an obliging couple of birders pointed it out but it was always rather too distant for good images but at least I managed some reasonable record shots.

At nearby Paxton Pits, there were reports of Lesser Redpolls showing in numbers at the Visitor Centre Feeders. After getting some good shots of Common and Arctic Redpolls in Finland (yet to be finally sorted and added to this website), most of my images to date of Lesser Redpolls were basically rubbish so it was worth a visit. Sure enough, there were up to a dozen at any one time although the perches around the feeders were not ideal so some careful editing was required. Never-the-less, I am quite pleased with the results.

More images in the Recent Additions section.