No 1: Goosander

Just over 6 years ago, I began blipping with this photo. I photographed 50 birds in 50 days, but after that things slowed down a bit and I still haven't quite reached 200. I've had a lot of adventures and a lot of fun finding them. This lovely trio today just reminded me of that fact. 
It was dull, but dry and calm, and not too cold, so we decided on a visit to Orgreave as we hadn't been for a while. It is bordered on one side by the River Rother, and a new housing estate on the other. It has a large double lake. Much of the rest of the site consists of earth constantly being moved around, so that every time we visit, the topography is completely different. For some reason, birds love it. There are often rarities spotted there, although sadly none by us today. However, we did record 40 species, which would be good going at a bona fide wildlife reserve.
I got an email from the BTO today thanking me for reporting the ringed Cormorant from Monday's outing. It included the following information - gleaned from bird ringing, which I thought I'd share:

Oldest bird – Manx shearwater, 50 yrs 11 months
Furthest travelled – Arctic Tern from Wales to Australia 18,000 km
Strangest recovery – Osprey ring found in stomach of a crocodile in The Gambia!