Busy week for feathered visitors to WWT Centres
This week has been a busy one with a variety of exciting arrivals at WWT Wetland Centres across the UK.
• WWT Martin Mere have had the best autumn migration for 15 years, with over 1000 whooper swans on the mere and still over 25,000 pink-feet. The first few flocks of starlings have also started to rise as well as very good numbers of teal. It is likely they have had a very good breeding season and as the weather is perfect for the migration, so large numbers are coming over at once. New for Martin Mere is a live web cam, click here to watch streaming footage of thousands of migrating birds arriving at the reserve.
• There have been unusual sightings recently at WWT Llanelli. A spoonbill arrived at the end of last week, which is very unusual - spoonbills are normally scarce visitors. Its’ arrival probably highlights the recent mild (but wet) weather and it’s probably not cold enough for it to make a decision whether to go back to North Africa (where they over-winter) or stay here! Other highlights at Llanelli include 325 curlew, 290 redshank, 530 black tailed godwit, eight greenshank, eight spotted redshank, 110 lapwing, 21 snipe, 135 wigeon, 65 brent goose, 135 shoveler, 255 pintail, 277 teal and 210 shelduck.
• At WWT London Wetland Centre they have seen an interesting assortment of birds, on Monday this included one ring-billed gull, 100+ teal, one skylark, three brambling, 17 siskin and two water pipits.
• WWT Welney have had a glossy ibis on the reserve for about a week and a half now which may have come across in this milder weather we are experiencing. Also, staff there are seeing visible migration of fieldfare, redwing and snipe (a group of which is a wisp of snipe) from the east coast, flying west onto the reserve to take advantage of good feeding opportunities.
• WWT Arundel have seen more common sandpipers this year, seen on the Wet Grasslands area near the Sand Martin Hide. They are also seeing increasing numbers of pochard, teal, tufted duck and shoveler. Brent geese have also been spotted flying over the reserve.
• At WWT Slimbridge numbers of pochard have doubled to 220, wigeon are up from 600 to 980 now and white-fronted goose numbers have risen from 18 to 28. Golden plover are now up to a good number of 1,200 and there are about 2,500 starlings roosting on the reserve now too. Every day staff at Slimbridge are also seeing lots of daytime migrants such as chaffinches, brambling and skylarks passing over.
• Every winter, one or two whooper swans may drop into Slimbridge but are usually quick to leave again. However, one particular swan, Toby, is happily bucking convention and seems to be making himself very much at home on the reserve. After arriving on 14 October with a friend who has since flown to pastures new, he has keenly attended the daily feeds, now shared with four Bewick's.
• Meanwhile up in Scotland at WWT Caerlaverock it has been relatively quiet due to bad weather, there are currently 8,000 barnacle geese and about 100 whooper swans on site. Excitingly, there are large flocks of about 100 fieldfare and redwings to be seen. Staff there have started to see the first pintails, with about a dozen on site, but there are about 7,000 on the Solway as a whole, so those numbers may build at the centre. Caerlaverock have also had the first half a dozen or so gadwall arrive.
• Finally, over in Northern Ireland, WWT Castle Espie have seen a decreasing number of brent geese, as the birds are slowly dispersing to the south. The current count stands at 20,500, with 2,500-3,000 geese seen on the estuary. Numbers of shoveler are steadily building, with a count of 30-40 at the moment, visitors to Castle Espie can expect numbers to reach about 100. The number of wigeon are set to peak shortly, with about 900 at the last count. Shelduck numbers are also beginning to increase. One novelty, which is rarely seen in the north, is the little egret. But up to 15 have been spotted at high water recently, with half a dozen visible from the Brent Hide. Another sighting which is nice to see are golden plover. The recent cooler weather could well have brought them in from Scandinavia and a good flock are starting to build again after not having seen them for a few years. Whooper swan numbers have increased to over 100, and they have been seen feeding in the fields near Comber. One family has even been seen on one of Castle Espie’s lakes which is a very rare sighting.
The winds have been blowing in the wrong direction for the last few days, however there has been very clear and light night skies which has meant some of the birds have made the journey anyway as conditions were good for navigating. Over the next few days we have gale force south westerly winds so it is likely that the door is well and truly closed for further migration from Russia at the moment.
Click onto our Migration Watch blog for regular weekly updates on the arrivals and departures of birds to WWT Wetland Centres throughout the winter.
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