Pintail and Scaup

A little bit of a New Year bash today brought some nice duck records for the Neath River and Baglan Bay area. The female Pintail shown below (on the right) next to a drake Mallard. Apart from the size, a sleeping female Pintail can resemble at female Teal but the brown speculum (would be green on a Teal) and plain head (Teal has an eyestripe) set them apart.
This is probably the same female that I saw here on Christmas Eve. She was with Wigeon that day, but today she was with 3 Mallard and if she has been spending her time along the river it would be great to record her in a few more BTO squares.

From Aberavon Beach today large numbers of Great Crested Grebe were spread out in the mist. These 4 Scaup were pretty flighty but luckily they came close enough to grab a record shot.
It looks like 2 x 1stw males and 2 females