86+ Knot
A touch of frost followed quickly by cold rain, a raw morning.
Rushy
The 2 Bewicks were joined briefly by a 3rd this morning. Duck numbers looking good 42 Pintail and 82 Pochard counted. The male FeriginousX Pochard and female Ring Neck Duck hybrids were among them. A Redshank dropped in briefly.
Tack Piece
Starting to fill up nicely, 620 Wigeon and about 70 Teal along the flash. Lots of waders moving around, 330 Golden Plover 15 Ruff, 2 Redshank and 30 Dunlin were very mobile. A total of 430 Lapwing and hundreds of Greylag, Canada and Barnacle. A Raven and 6 Cranes flew over. Lots of Thrushes this morning with good views of Redwing and Fieldfare from the walkway and the resident Mistle Thrush guarding its Mistletoe patch. A very noisy group of Thrushes, Finches, Tits and even a Goldcrest were mobbing an ivy clad tree near the Decoy probably a Tawny Owl but I couldn't find it.
South Lake
A little frozen here at first so a bit quiet but waders starting to drop back in. Still 120 Shoveler, 22 Pochard lots of Tufted Duck, Black tailed Godwits dropping in 16 when I left and 6 Ruff and 2 Redshank appeared. Lapwing numbered 210 and there were at least 14 Snipe scattered along the back of the scrape. A small group of Herring Gull included a small dark backed, mustard coloured legged bird with a scattering of winter plumage, my feeling was that it was probably a hybrid HerringX Lesser rather than a good Yellow Legged Gull.
Lots of Fieldfare and Redwing in trees to east of the lake.
Zeiss Hide
Very quiet for Duck but all the waders were crammed in here. There were 391 Black Tailed Godwit, at least 86 Knot, 206 Dunlin, 259 Golden Plover, 200 Lapwing and 2 Ruff. Both Cettis and Water Rail were calling close to hide.
Kingfisher Hide
The 11 European and 2 juv Greenland Whitefronted Geese were showing well from here
