Feeling autumnal

There is a definite chill in the air this morning, with a cool breeze and hedgerows filled with berries, it is feeling very autumnal

There is a definite chill in the air this morning, with a cool breeze and hedgerows filled with berries, it is feeling very autumnal.

Middle Point
A low tide count saw a small group of 53 Curlew close to the point including four colour-ringed birds. The bird in the photograph above is a colour-ringed combination between both legs. We know that this bird was ringed as a chick in the Brecklands in 2019, and seems to breed as an adult in Rutland. The bird has been seen on the estuary since mid July, and was one of the four present this morning. One bird was a head-started bird, released on the reserve in 2019, and the other two are from the WWT project in the Severn & Avon Vale, one of which also has a satellite tag allowing us to follow the bird as it left its breeding grounds to winter here on the estuary. You can follow all the satellite tagged birds on the WWT website here.

Also counted were two Peregrine, 14 Golden Plover, several hundred Shelduck, three Little Egret and a Grey Heron.

Estuary Tower
Eight Cranes were on the Dumbles this morning including two families and two unringed adults.

Rushy Hide
Work is continuing here today as we get the area ready for winter, so the ponds will be disturbed for part of the day. Birds returning overnight after yesterday's work included two Spotted Redshank, a Greenshank, 73 Black-tailed Godwit, nine Snipe, 19 Redshank, 28 Lapwing, eight Shoveler, 71 Teal, a Pintail, a Green Sandpiper and a Kingfisher.

Zeiss Hide
A Cattle Egret and a Spoonbill were with two Little Egret on the southern island. A Greenshank was around the shoreline along with a juvenile Little Stint, 16 Snipe and nine Ruff.

South Lake
At least 12 Ruff were with a flock of 176 Black-tailed Godwit and a Spotted Redshank on the wader scrape this morning.

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