A Visit to Melbourne - on 10th February,2022

No, not THAT Melbourne, but the village of Melbourne in South Derbyshire, just 8 miles (13 km) down the road from me. In my previous blog post, I mentioned that I'd met my old pal, Doc Martin, when I visited Hicks Lodge. Martin had kindly told me of two locations that he recommended for bird photography, and one of them was Melbourne Pool. The weather was not too bad on this day, so, after lunch, I set off to check it out, not having visited this place for a few years.

Having parked by the church, I walked to the pool. There were plenty of birds on the water near to where I arrived at the pool, but I was looking straight into the sun so, having ascertained that there was nothing of particular interest in this area, I set off to visit the far side of the pool, taking a shot of a Black-headed Gull in winter plumage to check my camera settings.

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Melbourne Pool

As I approached the outlet weir at the south-east corner of the pool, I spotted a Grey Wagtail on the weir. My view of it was, unfortunately, strait into the sun and so I ducked away out of sight until I got to the other side of the weir - and found that it had gone!

As I had not passed beyond this point on my previous visits, I took the path along the south side of the lake and along to the western end but saw little as I did so, and so returned towards the weir immediately.

I'd just spotted what I thought were probably two of the Red-crested Pochard (RcP) that were the target for my visit, when a gentleman with a dog asked me if I 'knew my ducks'. I said I knew a bit and was here for the Red-crested Pochards. He told me that there were originally three - all drakes - but that one had been taken by a very large fish!

I did manage to get a distant shot of the two RcPs together and it was a little frustrating that they were relatively near to where I'd first accessed the pool side.

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) (male) - Melbourne Pool

It was time to head back, taking a shot of the view across the pool as I did so.

view across the pool to Melbourne

I cautiously approached the weir, but there was no sign of the wagtail.. Just beyond the weir, a Moorhen was making its way into the water.

 

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Melbourne Pool

Arriving at the eastern side of the pool, I saw a lady who was feeding the gulls and ducks at the north-east corner. Feeding the ducks is one thing, but feeding gulls is definitely frowned on as it gets them into bad habits, such as stealing ice creams from children!

feeding frenzy

By the time I got there, the RcPs had already moved away and seemed to be heading towards where I had just come from, so I went back, and waited as the light would be from a much better direction. My wait was rewarded with it clouding over, a brief light fall of snow, followed by light rain, and the RcPs not arriving! Fortunately, the adverse weather didn't last long, and it did have the benefit of clearing the area of people. As I went to try and find the RcPs once more, I stopped briefly for a female Wigeon. This was the light and location that I'd hoped to get the RcPs in. However, I did not get the picture that I hoped for as I'd managed to leave my camera on settings for a totally different situation. The light and background seemed to be forever changing during this visit!

Wigeon (Anas penelope) (female) - Melbourne Pool

Back on the road which runs along the east side of the pool, I found one of the RcPs at a useful distance, and in light that was occasionally helpful when the bird presented itself at the right angle. RcPs are vegetarian, and this one was diving for weed.

 

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) (male) - Melbourne Pool

Because of the changeable weather, the benches that are along this stretch were unoccupied and so I stayed for a while in relative comfort, getting more shots of the bird which seemed to have teamed up with a Coot. They were virtually inseperable, and were indulging in sychronised diving!

 

Coot (Fulica atra) + Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) (male) - Melbourne Pool

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) (male) - Melbourne Pool

The sun soon disappeared, but the RcP stayed relatively close. I was pleased to get some shots of it stretching its wings.

 

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) (male) - Melbourne Pool

I have said it before, and I'll say it again - I always manage to find myself surprised at how narrow the heads of some ducks are compared to their side-on profle. These next two shots seem to emphasize this.

 

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) (male) - Melbourne Pool

While this bird stayed relatively close, its congener was far away, close to the island in the middle of the pool. At one point, it started to have a wash. I have often seen ducks creating spray when they do this, and I like to try and capture the action. I have never, however, seen a duck create such a powerful spread of spray as this one did - I'm glad that I was not standing close!
 

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) (male) - Melbourne Pool

It was time to take a last look to see if the Grey Wagtail had returned. It hadn't, but by the weir a Coot seemed to be building a nesting platform.

 

Coot (Fulica atra) - Melbourne Pool

It was time to head homeward. As I passed the massive hedge that forms a boundary of Melbourne Hall Gardens I could not help but wonder once more at the beauty of its shape, not fully captured in my photo.

 

hedge - Melbourne Hall Gardens

Close to the exit of the area was a very strange-looking, but quite impressive, duck. I'm guessing that it was a hybrid between a Mallard and some sort of domesticated duck, rather than a species escaped from some exotic collection. It was significantly bigger than a Mallard, however. Your views will be welcomed.

 

hybrid duck? - Melbourne Pool

Thank you, Martin, for pointing me in this direction. If the RcPs remain, I am hoping to return here on a day with more favourable weather and lighting.  However, lookingg at the weather forecast, that may not be for some time as it appears we might be in for a string of storms with high winds for a while. On that note, I'll close this blog post.

My next blog post will probably be in about a week, and I have little idea of what the subject matter might be.

Thank you for dropping by. In the meantime, please stay safe, and look after yourself and Nature - - - Richard