Walking back I got a WhatsApp from Martin that a Tweet had gone out about a Scaup on Sandford, so I headed straight there and was soon looking at a male in the final stages of moulting from eclipse.
It dived constantly, so was near impossible to photograph with an iPhone.
It had the green sheen on the head, big billed and was a bigger than Tufted, so it is clear this is not a hybrid.
The last Scaup was August 4th 2009 and a 1st Winter male in 2008 Feb 17th to 25th.
So the full history of Scaup:
7th Dec 2016 - Adult male Sandford (Ian Paine at al)
4th Aug 2009 - female BSL, moved to LFGP (FJC, TAG, et al)
17th to 25th Feb 2008 - 1st Winter male Sandford (MFW et al)
28th Feb 2000 - No details (observer unknown)
3rd Jan 1999 - female (JJW)
11th Aug 1996 - 2 Lavell's (observer unknown)
14th Aug 1990 - No details (observer unknown)
2nd & 10th Jan 1989 - female BSL (FJC - 1988 bird)
24th Mar to 15th Apr 1989 - 1st summer male Sandford (many observers)
8th Oct 1989 - No details (observer unknown)
24th to 27th Nov 1988 - 1st year female BSL (P Ball)
22nd Oct 1986 - Eclipse male BSL (FJC)
21st Oct to 10th Nov 1985 - Sub adult male BSL (TAG et al), then 4/11th original bird joined by 2 females and immature male, last female seen 16th Dec
A mixed history indeed, the usual 'OU's' for records, but even in the few records we have these do not stand out as odd dates, so I believe they are all genuine records.
The notable point is the 8 year break from 2000 to 2008, then 7 more to today's bird.
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