Aas See (24/2/12)

I looked at the map of my local area and decided to go to a nice little lake called Aas See (See is german for lake not sea).

This is the route I took

After having my breakfast I set off to go to the lake. The trip was not more then 8km so I plan to go again soon. On the way I saw some House Sparrows and a Buzzard in the woods. The first thing that I saw on the lake were a few Tufted Ducks mainly males. There were also Goldeneye which were swimming and diving a lot. There were also a few Pochard swimming including 1 maile and 4 females. Then when I was looking at some Goldeneye a Great Crested Grebe came up from diving. In a feild next to the lake there were a lot of Greylag Geese laying around with a Grey Heron. Then suddenly when I was loooking over the field I heard a woodpecker drilling away. I went back to woods to try and find it but then when I arrived I heard it call and it was a Great Spotted Woodpecker call. When I was at the woods I saw 6 lapwings fly over and c.40 Goldfinches. Then when I went back to the field I saw 3 Buzzards circling the woods. Then I decided to park up my bike and walk around the lake. While I was parking my bike up I saw 2 Cormerants fly over. While I walked along the lake I took out my camera so that if I saw a Goldeneye up close I could photograph it. Unfortunately all the Goldeneye I saw close flow away to quickly even if they were far away. Then at one point were I stopped I saw c.800 Tufted Ducks swimming very far away. I looked into the group just incase there was something rare and I found 6 SMEWS 3 males and 3 females.

They were very far away so couldn't get a good picture but in the two photos you can tell that they are Smews. After that I decided to look at the sea which was right next to the lake. I had a nice long walk along the beach looking out for Shore Larks (unfortunately I didn't see one). On the sea I saw hundreds of Eiders, 2 Common Gulls, hundreds of Herring Gulls and both Black-backed Gulls, 2 Ostercatchers and 7 Common Scoters. After that long walk I decided to go back to Klein Waabs. On the way back I saw 2 more Buzzards and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Two Mute Swans flying over the sea.