Green-winged teal and two water rails

8 January 2022

A bit of excitement this week with a green-winged teal on the folly pond, which is a rare sighting. It has been spotted most days this week. And two water rails on the peter scott trail were seen yesterday near the end of the day.

A bit of excitement this week with a green-winged teal on the folly pond, which is a rare sighting and hasn't been seen on the reserve for quite a while. It has been spotted most days this week, and we are on the look out again today. We are really pleased to have encountered two water rails on the peter scott trail, which were seen yesterday afternoon. The best place to see them is around the bird feeder area. Other sightings from the week include 3 pintail, 40+ redshank, 3 shelduck and 23 shovelers on the folly pond. 100 pink-footed geese flew over the reserve yesterday, however didn’t stay for a visit. Our latest barnacle goose count is roughly 5, 500 and whooper swan numbers are steady at around 100 every day. Yellowhammer numbers are still good with groups of 10/20 easily spotted in the hedges around the PSO. I also caught a lucky glimpse of a weasel scuttling across the path yesterday!

Unable to visit us in person or missing your daily fix of swans, waders, and badgers’ antics, then click on the link below to check out our webcam which is set on the Whooper pond during the day, and then set to view the badger feeding area from 5pm onwards.

https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/caerlaveroc...

This week's high tide times are:

Sun 9/1 17:15- 8.5 m

Mon 10/1- 18:10- 8.0 m

Tues 11/1- 19:14- 7.7 m

Wed 12/1- 08:00- 7.4 m

Thurs 13/1- 08:56- 7.5 m

Photo credit: Alex Hillier

As well as this week's highlights, you are likely to see the following on the reserve:

Birds	Mammals	Named Whooper Swans
Mute Swan	Hare	Yellow ZHD - Renouf
Greylag geese	Roe Deer	Yellow ZND - Rosie
Canada Geese	Weasel	Yellow ZLD - McMurdoston
Shelduck	Stoat	Orange XLX - Linda Graham
Mallard	Fox	Yellow ZLS - Handel
Gadwall	Otter	Yellow ZXP - Mary
Shoveler	Badger	Red APR - Elsie Barbara
Teal		Orange YFB - Eric Anthony
Moorhen		Yellow ZHV - Wampool
Cormorant		Yellow ZJS - Hendrik
Little Egret		Orange YSJ - Sheldon Whooper
Grey Heron		Orange YTF - Odette
Buzzard		Orange XKU - Solway Siren
Kestrel		Orange XLL - Chris
Peregrine Falcon		Yellow ZLA - Beatrice
Merlin		Yellow ZJI - Indigo Montoya
Sparrowhawk		Yellow ZJX - Polly
Golden Plover		Yellow ZVL - Nobby Nobkin
Oystercatcher		Yellow ZNP - Lucky Linda
Lapwing		Orange XLD - Donald Ivan
Common Sandpiper		Yellow ZFV - Giffnock
Redshank		Yellow ZLP - Keith John
Black-tailed Godwit		Yellow ZNC - Rowena Two
Curlew		Yellow ZSB - Sugar Baby
Snipe		Yellow ZPY - Sigurdswan
Black-headed Gull		Yellow ZJH - Aspen
Common Gull		Yellow ZJN - Nado
Herring Gull		Yellow ZVC - Ava-Grace
Great Black Backed Gull		Orange XLJ - Bernard
Wood Pigeon		Yellow ZJZ - Snoopy
Collared Dove		Yellow ZLJ - TJ Whooper
Great Spotted Woodpecker		Yellow ZNA - George
Skylark		Yellow ZNU - Janis
Yellowhammer
Redwing
Fieldfare
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Song Thrush
Blackbird
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Wren
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Treecreeper
Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion Crow
Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Twite