1, 2, 3, doh
This weekend is the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) date for February. Counters across the UK are surveying their sites for ducks, geese, swans, waders and other wetland species to help build a picture of how populations are fairing this year for our wintering waterbirds. Find out more about WeBS here. The January counts found nearly 18,000 birds on the reserve, with every individual counted. Counting today for February was made harder by flighty birds and wet ground conditions allowing birds to spread out more widely.
South Lake Hides
One of the easier areas to count with birds including 19 Avocet, 127 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Oystercatcher, 32 Dunlin, 6 Ruff, single Redshank, 886 Lapwing, 10 Cormorant, 21 Pochard, 52 Tufted Duck, 12 Gadwall and a Great Crested Grebe. Two Bewick's Swans (Aye-aye and Indri) were also here.
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Robbie Garnett Hide
When the Golden Plover eventually settled long enough the count revealed 1253 birds in the flock. Also present were 925 Lapwing, 445 Wigeon, 412 Pintail, 51 Shoveler, 36 Redshank, 20 Ruff and a single Snipe. The White-fronted Goose flock dropped in mid-morning but then split and partly hid in the ditch, with just 66 birds on show.
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Rushy Hide & Peng Observatory
A big departure overnight with the Bewick's Swans now down to 88 birds, all but two of which were on the Rushy first thing. Also present were 149 Pochard, single Redshank, 32 Snipe, 104 Shelduck and 105 Tufted Duck.
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Holden Tower
The Red-breasted Goose was with 233 Barnacle Geese. Two Little Stint were on the scrape on the Dumbles along with 2089 Lapwing. A Raven flew over early morning, at least 2 Buzzard were sat out on posts, 7 Cranes were scattered across the Dumbles, two Stonechat were foraging here too and a Marsh Harrier was hunting to the north of the Tack Piece. A pair of Little Grebe were on the Long Ground Pool before moving closer to the pool by the Knott Hide. At least 96 Curlew were to the north of the Tack Piece.
