A busy week
Its been a busy week on the reserve with work in many areas now complete for winter. All we need now are some easterly winds to bring the birds across from Europe!
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Rushy Hide
Duck numbers continue to build with now at least 74 Pochard, 70 Shelduck and 50+ Pintail present. Also here amongst the duck was a single Little Grebe.
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Zeiss Hide
The probable Semipalmated Sandpiper was back on the scrape with the flock of small waders which included at least 350 Dunlin and 3 Little Stint. Another flock of around 80 120 Dunlin were on the Bottom New Piece scrape, viewed from here or the Kingfisher Hide. A false alarm scattered the waders for a short time, but they then returned and settled again. Four Avocet were also present along with 17 Golden Plover, single Black-tailed Godwit and Ruff, 275 Lapwing and 17 Redshank. Two Water Rail were calling from the reedbed in front of the hide, as was a Cetti's Warbler.
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South Lake Hides
Two Snipe were showing well in front of the Hogarth Hide, feeding amongst the Teal in the shallows. On the wader scrape were 173 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Redshank, a Ruff and 165 Lapwing. With feeding started on the Rushy, duck numbers here have dropped but many Tufted Duck remain along with a single Pintail and several Teal.
