A busy few days
New in this morning were three Garganey on the South Lake before flying off and relocating on the Tack Piece. The biggest tide of the year covered the Dumbles and reached the seawall and bought a Great Skua back up the river
New in this morning were three Garganey on the South Lake before flying off and relocating on the Tack Piece. The biggest tide of the year covered the Dumbles and reached the seawall and bought a Great Skua back up the river. It's been a busy week for the team so apologies for the lack of updates, but a big thank you to our Guide in the Hide team for keeping the show going, tweeting out news and keeping everyone up to date. Don't forget you can always keep up to date with the latest news as it happens on our Twitter feed here - and you don't need an account to view it!
South Lake
The three Garganey were undoubtedly the highlight this morning, two males and a female. A great flock of 506 Black-tailed Godwit were on the wader scrape this morning along with 36 Avocet and two Mediterranean Gulls. A Kingfisher made a flypast.
Robbie Garnett Hide
A flock of 66 Curlew were on the Tack Piece along with 36 Redshank, 227 Wigeon, a single Oystercatcher and single Dunlin and 25 Shoveler.
Holden Tower
The forecast biggest tide of the year delivered and flooded the entire Dumbles right up to the seawall, leaving just a few pockets of higher ground for birds to roost and forage. Before the tide at least 142 White-fronted Geese were spread across the area, four Avocet were on the scrape with a pair of Oystercatcher and a pair of Crane were also seen. After the tide had peaked a Great Skua, possibly the bird seen a few days ago, was on the river and last reported floating downstream quickly around 1:30pm.
Zeiss Hide
A Marsh Harrier was seen again this morning, first sat on a tussock before flying off. Birds on the scrape included 40 Avocet, three Redshank whilst Wigeon numbers have dropped to just 96 birds here this morning.
Roadside fields
It's always worth checking the roadside fields as you approach the centre as the last few days have seen lots of Crane action. Evie was chasing off Sedge on Tuesday morning whilst Monty looked on, Ruby her possible new unringed partner and her juvenile were seen here Tuesday and Wednesday and this morning a big surprise with Kia present with a new arrival, Chocolo. Chocolo has been here before, but usually with mate Tamsin who was nowhere to be seen. Possibly another divorce?
