An overnight downpour
You may have noticed that last night was rather wet and not a great night for birds to migrate, so we've no obvious new arrivals this morning. The rain has topped up many of the pools and scrapes across the reserve, so we've now got thousands of ducks and lots of waders taking advantage of the refreshed feeding opportunities, especially from the Zeiss Hide.
South Lake Hides
We're continuing essential management work around the lake and scrape today so expect some disturbance. Yesterday most of the duck remained on the lake despite the work. There is a lot to do so there may be some disturbance over the next few weeks.
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Rushy Hide & Peng Observatory
Sixteen Bewick's Swans were present this morning, all eagerly awaiting the feed. Don't forget that we've got commentated swan feeds every afternoon at 4pm in the Peng Observatory. We've also got some special Floodlit Swan Supper events taking place over the next few months, more details here.
Identified swans include Dario, Bridges, Tool, Times, Malcolm, Croupie, Wheel, Fortune Two, Combo, Kulguyev, Kondrovo, Bookmaker, and Pab. To our knowledge we've also had the honour of the first cygnet to be seen in the UK, and the current biggest brood of three cygnets which arrived with parents Dario and Bridges yesterday. Its not all about swans on the Rushy, the feed are also offering excellent views of Pintail, Pochard and Shelduck all just a few feet away from the hide.
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Holden Tower and Walkway Hides
It was a very quiet Dumbles this morning with only a few Lapwing and Barnacle Geese on show, although there may well be more geese feeding on the edge of the river as the tide was low. Lots of the ducks and waders have moved to the Top and Bottom New Pieces to take advantage of the overnight rain topping up the pools and low areas of the fields. Water levels are also increasing in front of the walkway hides. On show from the Robbie Garnett Hide were around 100 Teal, 80 Wigeon, 70 Lapwing along with 2 Redshank and a Curlew. We've also now got a few Wigeon and Teal back in from of the Knott Hide with the refreshed water levels.
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Zeiss Hide
It was a very quiet scrape on the Top New Piece, but look harder and you'll find that most of the birds are closer feeding on the field. Several hundred Teal and Wigeon are busy grazing whilst at least 8 Ruff and several hundred Lapwing are mingled in with them. On the edge of the scrape were at least 180 Dunlin and 13 Black-tailed Godwits and the Little Stint, although the birds were continually moving so more may well drop in to join them as the tide comes in.
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Kingfisher Hide
Two Little Grebe were on the pond and lots of Fieldfare feeding in the hedgerows. The flock of Wigeon were spread out across the Bottom New Piece with several Lapwing and Golden Plover mixed in.
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