Friday showers
The day has seen showers sweeping up the estuary, some being very heavy. Star birds from the last few days remain plus a stunning male Goshawk hunting Teal from the Zeiss Hide.
The day has seen showers sweeping up the estuary, some being very heavy. Star birds from the last few days remain including the juvenile Black Tern and adult Spotted Redshank both on the South Lake this morning.
The Summer Walkway will be closed again today to allow us to continue work on new ponds and ditches. We should be able to open the walkway again for the big tides this weekend. To whet your appetite high tide this morning saw a flock of around 200 small waders (mainly Ringed Plover and few Dunlin) constantly buzzing over the spartina island. In flight views revealed at least one Curlew Sandpiper, a Turnstone and a Sanderling. A flock of at least 70 Knot were also present along with 11 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron and 28 Great Black-backed Gulls in the roost. If the tides are as big as forecast this weekend we should see the whole Dumbles go underwater and all these birds pushed on to the Top New Piece, South Lake and Tack Piece - fingers crossed!
South Lake
The juvenile Black Tern was over the deep lake this morning, seemingly playing in the wind amongst the Black-headed Gulls. The whole area flushed around 9am (see photo) with everything taking to the air or heading for open water and at this point the Black Tern disappeared but was back by 11:30am and roosting on the wader scrape. The adult Spotted Redshank was with the Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit flock which numbered 17 and 206 birds respectively. Duck across the deep lake and wader scrape included 335 Teal, 232 Mallard, 2 Pochard and 33 Tufted Duck. Also present were a Grey Heron and 11 Cormorant.
Zeiss Hide
A male Goshawk put on a great performance this morning, catching a Teal and heading off towards the Canoe Safari. It was then seen shortly after towards the Bottom New Piece to the south of the Zeiss Hide. After the commotion caused by this awesome predator the high tide roost on the scrape included 3 Greenshank, 9 Ringed Plover, a Knot, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 25 Redshank, 20+ Snipe, 12 Ruff, 274 Lapwing and a Golden Plover. Duck included 146 Mallard, 550+ Teal whilst at least 8 Yellow Wagtail were foraging across the field and 2 Cetti’s Warbler were heard singing.
Rushy Hide
Birds on the lower pond included the Garganey, 7 Black-tailed Godwit, 236 Teal, a Snipe, 3 Wigeon and a single Pintail. The upper pond held 12 Tufted Duck and 2 Gadwall. A Chiffchaff was singing nearby.
