Happy Birthday!
Today is the 70th Anniversary of the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust. The sun is shining, the birds are busy feeding in front of all the hides so what better day to come down and celebrate with us? Bewick's Swan numbers have increased too, we're up to 26 birds now including two new broods, one of 3 and one of 2. We hope this is a trend and productivity is high this year.
Zeiss Hide
A very busy hide this morning, not least with Wigeon grazing on every field in view completely surrounding the hide. Many of the waders were also out feeding in the grass so as you scan through the Wigeon flock look out for the 86 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Ruff and a few hundred Lapwing. A large flock of 247 Dunlin were also present, feeding on the muddy margins of the scrape, with more birds out on the Bottom New Piece as seen from the Kingfisher Hide.
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Kingfisher Hide
Great views of Wigeon feeding in the field with several hundred birds present. The Little Grebe was again on the pond along with two pairs of stunning Gadwall, surely one of our most under-rated ducks here in the UK?
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Holden Tower
A Chiffchaff was busy feeding in front of the hide whilst out on The Dumbles birds included 224 Barnacle Geese, 310 Lapwing, 175 Golden Plover, Little Stint, 152 Dunlin, 7 Curlew and a handful of Wigeon. At least 20 White-fronted Geese could be seen feeding along the river edge, so more of the flock are likely to be hidden out of sight.
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Rushy Hide & Peng Observatory
So we're up to 26 Bewick's Swans this morning with our new arrivals. Its great to have these birds coming back now, and we've also had our first bird wearing a darvic, a large coloured ring which helps identification of individuals in the field. Pop in to the Peng Observatory and see if you can read the ring, then put the code into the touchscreen computer and learn more about this bird's life history.
