Recent Sightings (Nov 8th- 10th)
British Steel Hide
Wader counts from the British Steel hide include 797 Black-tailed Godwits, 450 Knot, 250 Dunlin, 10 Greenshank, 54 Lapwing, a Snipe and 2 Spotted Redshanks. On the wildfowl front, there were counts of 73 Wigeon, 2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 3 Greylag Geese, 169 Shelduck, 12 Shoveler, 35 Teal, 1 Mute Swan, 9 Tufted Ducks and 6 Gadwall. A really nice array of raptors have been seen as well including a Merlin, 2 Peregrines, a Sparrowhawk, a Red Kite and a Buzzard. Other birds seen from the hide include Stonechats, Little Egrets, Grey Herons, Kingfishers and various Thrush species.
Millennium Wetlands
The deep water lake has produced 29 Teal, 16 Gadwall, 5 Snipe, 4 Little Grebe, 1 Pintail, 5 Shoveler, 2 Pochard, 9 Mute Swans, 2 Shelduck and 24 Tufted Ducks. 13 Lapwing were seen flying over the wetlands on the 10th. A Water Pipit was seen flying over the visitor centre on the 8th, and Bramblings are seen and heard most mornings around the carpark. Hawfinches have been the stars of the show with 2 seen on the 8th, 5 on the 9th and 2 on the 10th. These birds have mainly been seen flying around the carpark, but one was seen passing over the Bittern Reedbed on the 9th. They can be incredibly elusive, and their call is quite often the only thing that gives them away. There has been a fantastic diversity of finches in general around the site with Bullfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Siskins, Lesser Redpoll and Greenfinches joining the Hawfinches and Bramblings on the reserve. Redwings, Fieldfares and Mistle and Song Thrushes are still to be found in good numbers around the reserve too.
