Great egret, wigeon and pintails
I spotted a great egret last Sunday from the Scrape hide. This heron-sized egret is much larger than the little egret and has a yellow bill, like the smaller cattle egrets. Members of the Collection Team and our Reserve Team have spotted the great egret around in the early morning but it soon moves offsite.
Plenty of wintering ducks coming into the reserve. Seven pintail from Sand Martin hide on Wednesday morning (25 Nov) and good numbers of wigeon. The highest numbers of both I have seen in recent years. I counted 41 teal at the Scrape hide, too.
- Paul Stevens, Reserve Manager
Thurs 19 Nov
Reedbed: chiffchaffs, 23 mallards, 1 kingfisher, 1 gadwall, 1 coot.
Lapwing hide: 23 snipe
Fri 20 Nov
Woodland loop: 4 blue its, 2 great tits, 3 chaffinch, 2 coal tits, 1 song thrush, 2 wood pigeon.
Ramsar hide: 1 lapwing
Reedbed: juvenile heron.
Sat 21 Nov
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 19 mallards, 16 Canada geese, 1 tufted duck, 2 pochard, 2 coot, 1 moorhen, 1 kingfisher, 1 black-headed gull
Reedbed hide: 1 water rail
Sun 22 Nov
Wetland Discovery area: 37 mallard, 1 kingfisher, 1 green woodpecker, 2 water rail, 2 coots, 2 tufted ducks, 1 moorhen, 1 black-headed gull.
Ramsar hide: 9 wigeon, 11 snipe, 19 shoveler, and 6 lapwings.
Scrape hide: great egret
Reedbed hide: 1 kingfisher, 1 Cetti’s warbler, 6 marsh harriers (roosting - 3 males and 3 juveniles).
Mon 23 Nov
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 5 Egyptian geese.
Ramsar/Sand Martin hide: 17 wigeon, 1 pochard, 4 lapwings.
Lapwing hide: 13 teal, 2 stone chats, 1 blue tits, 1 wren.
Tues 24 Nov
Ramsar hide: 1 Med gull 1, 6 lapwing, 8 wigeon, 10 gadwall 1 grey heron, 11 snipe, 3 shelduck, 12 teal, 19 mallards, 4 pochard, 11 tufted ducks, 171 black-headed gulls, 78 common gulls, 8 coot, 3 cormorant, 28 Canada goose, 44 greylag geese, 12 shoveler.
Wood loop: 2 marsh tits
Arun Riverife lagoon: 4 pochard
Wed 25 Nov
Sand Martin hide: 7 pintails, 20 wigeo
Scrape hide: 41 teal
Arun Riverlife: 6 pochards
