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We've seen a bit of an increase in our bird numbers recently, not least our waders and particularly Lapwing. The skies over the Zeiss Hide have been filled with these fantastic birds over the last few days as a Peregrine and Merlin have taken to hunting here. This morning, thanks to a lack of activity from the birds of prey we were able to count a reserve total of 5209 Lapwing, more than we had estimated!
Holden Tower
Another big high tide this morning completely filled the river and flooded the island, pushing lots of birds on to the Zeiss Hide and The Dumbles. Nearly half of all the Lapwing were out from the Holden Tower, a count of 2004 birds with around 300 Golden Plover and at least 100 Dunlin mixed in at the southern end of the reserve. After the morning feed a steady stream of Bewick's Swans headed out from the Rushy with 40 individuals counted mid-morning, roosting and grazing on The Dumbles.
The high tide also bought the adult Brent Goose out of hiding. The bird was loosely associating with the flock of Barnacle Geese. Hopefully the Bean Goose will return too, although we suspect that it is still in the area and has gone off with the Greylag flock. A new peak of 128 Great Black-backed Gulls were roosting on The Dumbles too, along with 16 Curlew and 5 Cranes from the Great Crane Project. After spending some time on the goose fields, the flock of 130 White-fronted Geese arrived on The Dumbles mid-morning.
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Zeiss Hide
A packed scrape made for a difficult count, but eventually 2493 Lapwing were tallied. Mixed in amongst them were 17 Ruff, a single Redshank, 2 Snipe, 300+ Dunlin and 5 Black-tailed Godwits. A Water Rail was calling from the reedbed in front of the hide and a Cetti's Warbler was showing well along the fence line.
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Kingfisher Hide
The Bottom New Piece field was awash with Curlew, a great count of 74 birds feeding close to the hide during high tide. Towards the back of the field on the scrape were another 134 Lapwing, 25 Snipe, Little Egret and 100+ Dunlin. A Mistle Thrush was also feeding in the field amongst the Curlew. On the pond were the pair of Little Grebe and a Kingfisher flew down the rhine.
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South Lake Hides
Another 578 Lapwing were roosting here with two Redshank the only other waders present. At least 31 Pochard were busy feeding on the deep lake in the company of Gadwall, Shelduck, Tufted Duck and Shoveler.
