Frozen again
Another cold night leaving most of the shallower water bodies frozen again this morning. New arrivals included a pair of Whooper Swan, one carrying a red darvic ring. The bird was caught at WWT Caerlaverock in March 2014, sexed as a male and has been seen at WWT Martin Mere too in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Robbie Garnett Hide
As well as the Whooper Swans grazing on the field, a total of 8 White-fronted Geese were on the Tack Piece this morning amongst the Greylags, including a pair with 1 juvenile, a pair with 2 juveniles and a lone adult. Duck were crammed into a small ice free area of the scrape and included 502 Wigeon, 432 Teal and 2 Pintail. At least 2 Snipe were also hiding along the shoreline.
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Holden Tower
Another 7 adult White-fronted Geese were on the Dumbles with the Greylag flock. A Peregrine was sat out on a fence post near the river and a Little Egret could be seen on the edge of the channel.
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South Lake Hides
Very few birds on the wader scrape this morning with just 2 Black-tailed Godwit and 18 Redshank of note. The deep lake held a few more duck including 10 Pochard, 33 Shoveler and 60 Tufted Duck.
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Zeiss Hide
A large roost of 628 Canada Geese this morning with around 450 Teal mixed amongst them. As this area is quiet some of the team will be out here today finishing off a few jobs ahead of the big winter numbers arriving. The Bittern rides in the reedbed have been cut and the vegetation topped ready for thousands of grazing Wigeon and foraging waders.
