A cold snap to end the week

The temperature has dipped below freezing for the weekend

The temperature has dipped below freezing for the weekend. The colder weather can encourage birds to move off to warmer areas, or use the estuary more if the fields and waterbodies become frozen.

This week our team have continued the coppicing and pollarding work at the south end of the grounds near to the Spinney, next to the Zeiss Hide.

Bewick's Swan update
Our flock remained around 80 birds to start the week but on Tuesday one of our birds, Grinning, was seen down river at Sharpness. This is the female who was attacked by the visiting Whooper Swans and appears to have an injured leg and spent several days on the Rushy resting. We had seen her more mobile and flying out to feed for the day, so hopefully she has just floated down river and will return to her partner, Grinner, soon.

Wildfowl
The Dark-bellied Brent Goose has been present all week, mainly on the Dumbles with the Barnacle Goose flock. The Cackling Goose was also present to start the week but hasn't been seen for the last couple of days, although the Canada Goose flock has moved on to the Lower Dumbles just south of the reserve so the bird may well be here. Our White-fronted Goose flock started the week in the Canal Ground, but yesterday moved to the Goose House, just north of the Tack Piece. They appear to have roosted on the river last night after being disturbed from the South Lake on Thursday morning.

Waders
Most unusual from our waders came this morning with what appears to be a Wood Sandpiper on the Tack Piece. This small wader should be in Africa for the winter, but there have been a few winter records in recent years. The bird was distant but the features don't leave many alternatives for identification. We'll keep trying to get better photos to document the record - hopefully it'll come closer to the hides! Also unusual is a leucistic Golden Plover which has been seen in the Canal Ground, and doesn't appear to associate with the main Golden Plover flock on the Tack Piece, which itself is now around 1700 birds. Also on the Tack Piece this week has been a single Red Knot, presumably roosting here over high tide.

With the wet weather raising waterlevels in the field the Curlew flock has been coming in to the Tack Piece to feed, with around 350 birds noted this week. Amongst them have been at least six head-started birds from the releases on the reserve in 2019. These birds may well be starting to think about breeding so we're keeping a close eye on who is around and what they're getting up to.

More signs of Spring are also appearing - we now have at least three Oystercatchers on the reserve, two of which have been very vocal flying around the grounds and over the Rushy to claim their territory. Yesterday our Avocet count increased to six birds.

Other notable species
The highlight of the week has been a juvenile Glaucous Gull touring the estuary and seen on the reserve perched on the breakwater near Frampton.

At least one Great Egret was in the paleochannel this morning, but two have been present through the week with one bird also seen on the Long Ground Pool. The egret roost on the South Lake has continued to attract up to ten Little Egret and nine Cattle Egret.

Water Rail are becoming more evident and vocal around the reserve as their breeding season approaches - a calling bird from the Decoy / Withy Bed area caught the attention of another bird on the Martin Smith pool islands, two birds were under the feeders at the Willow Hide and another bird was calling at the Zeiss Hide. We hope to run a wider survey this breeding season to find out how many remain on the reserve, compared to our wintering population.

• Share this article