Trio of Snow Geese
Three white phase Snow Geese appeared on the Dumbles saltmarsh this morning, they were in the company of Canada Geese.
Highlights from around the reserve on a cold and frozen morning included the following.
Tack Piece
400 Golden Plover, 160 Dunlin, 450 Lapwing on the ice, a few hundred duck on the open section of water, three Russian White-fronted Geese over to NE plus 6 Snipe at Martin Smith Hide.
South Finger path
Five Bullfinch in the hawthorns + Goldcrests.
Duck Decoy
Niine Little Egret roosted overnight.
Grounds/Matrix
A few Greenfinch about this morning.
Spinney Wood
Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Redwings and Chaffinches feeding in the leaf litter.
South Lake
35 Shoveler in 'whirlygig' feeding mode on deep lake plus a flock of Pochard/Tufted Duck, 800 Lapwing, single Oystercatcher and 4 Black-tailed Godwit on the wader scrape which along with the duck marsh was frozen over.
Top New Piece
A Marsh Harrier hunting early morning.
Rushy Hide/Peng Observatory
111 Bewick's Swans on site this morning, 18 of which were on the Tack Peice, the single Avocet still present and it was busy with birds due to plenty of open water thanks to concentrations of wildfowl.
Estuary Tower
Flocks of 100s of Pintail and Wigeon on the estuary over high tide. Canada, Barnacel and Greylag Geese grazing and 16 Skylark feeding on the scrape edge. 9 Cranes, 150 Wigeon on open water at Pill Box Pool.
Long Ground Pool
Largely frozen but 100s Teal have kept one are free of ice, no Cattle Egrets appeared to have roosted.
Kingfisher Hide
A Barn Owl roosted in the hide again last night, two Water Rail in the channels and three Great White Egret came out of the South Finger extension/Four Score field ditch, two flew back north, one to the south.
Van De Bovenkamp Hide/Tin Shed Field
Two Greenland White-frotned Geese were with 166 Russian White-fronted and Greylag Geese.
Entrance Fields
At dawn eleven Russian White-fronted Geese were heading to fields on the north side of the road with a few dropping into fields to the south. The Glossy Ibis was seen here yesterday at 11:00am.
