Having seen the Spotted Crake well at Lower Moors we headed off to Porthellick to see the Blue-winged Teal which had been seen again from the Stephen Sussex hide.
We arrived at the hide just as people were coming out and they suggested that we try the other further hide as the teal had last been seen swimming in that direction. This was good advice although the 2nd hide was much smaller and it was a tight squeeze. Soon after we got in there the Blue-winged Teal drifted out from the nearby reeds giving us excellent views.
The pale loral spot, whitish eye ring and dark eye stripe were all obvious. Part of the bright pale blue upper forewing was also visible on the right hand side even when the bird was resting. This was my fifth Blue-winged Teal in Britain with all of them autumn birds.
At this point I noticed that I had lost part of the protective cover for my telescope. We retraced our steps all the way back from Porthellick to the Spotted Crake in Lower Moors and I managed to find it in the ditch! Next stop was another attempt on the Red-breasted Flycatcher which had been reported again at the Dump Clump.
