Recent Sightings 19th-25th March
Highlights: Sand Martins, Willow Warbler, Wheatear, Lapwing, Kingfisher
British Steel Hide
Recent hide tides have completely flooded the Salt Marsh and over spilled into the Saline Lagoons, forcing the waders to roost on Dafen Scrapes. On Friday mornings bird count a large flock of over 500 Black-tailed Godwits were seen and in amongst them was a Ruff. Curlew, Greenshank and Redshank were also seen here, and the female Long-tailed Duck continues to been seen for brief glimpses in-between diving, alongside Tufted Ducks, Pintail and Shoveler. A couple of Spoonbills were spotted far out on the Salt Marsh Friday morning, after the hide tide. A male Wheatear was also seen on Tuesday afternoon on the Salt Marsh banks. Over 800 Black-tailed Godwits were seen from the British Steel Hide on Saturday as well as a female Goldeneye.
Millennium Wetlands
Sand Martins have returned after migrating over 6000km from their wintering grounds in West Africa. They have been observed all across the reserve and we hope that we will get a few breeding pairs in our artificial nesting bank on the Freshwater Lagoon. When topping it up with sand last week we saw a good handful of nests and eggshells from last year, which is a promising sign that they did use the bank for nesting and hopefully will do the same this year.
A good few pairs of Lapwing are showing a lot of breeding behaviours over on Deep Water Lake, including display flights and calls, and nest building behaviour on the cockle beds. A pair of Kingfishers have been showing a lot of interest in the earth banks around Deep Water Lake, the reserve team are keeping a close on them, and we hope to see them using one the excavated burrows for nesting very soon! Black-headed Gulls are continuing to colonise the stony islands on Deep Water Lake, and if you look carefully in the flock you may spot a few Mediterranean Gulls.
Other notable sightings this week include a Willow warbler heard singing on the Northern Loop Saturday morning; 2 Spoonbills feeding and resting on both Deep Water Lake and the Western Scrapes throughout the week; a Sparrowhawk seen hunting over the Northern Loop Saturday, the clump of Frogspawn on site has now hatched into tadpoles; 3 Otters were observed playing on the Lily Pond early on Tuesday Morning; and Buff tailed Bumblebees are frequently being spotted all across the reserve, especially in sunnier weather.
A moth trap was run on the night of the 22nd, there were 25 moths in total of 8 species, including Pale Brindled Beauty, Hebrew Character, Clouded Drab, Grey Shoulder-knot, Twin-spotted Quaker and Common Quaker.
