Sightings for the week ending 15 December 2024

A running daily list of sightings for the week ending the 15 December.

Sunday 15 December

Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) counts

Other species of note were a male Marsh Harrier and 3 Peregrines causing a lot of disturbance on the Tack Piece.

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Saturday 14 December

Zeiss Hide

On the top new Piece there were 182 Dunlin, a pair of Stonechat, 305 Lapwing, 13 Ruff, Cranes: Oakie, Sherbert and juvenile.

Estuary Tower

From the tower there were 70 Teal, 490 Wigeon, 2 Bewick’s Swan, 15 Shoveler, 10 Dunlin, 11 Greater Black-backed Gull a Barnacle Goose flock, singles of Little Stint, Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail and White-fronted goose.

Kingfisher Hide

There was 1 Little Grebe on the channel, 13 Snipe on Four Score field as well as Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit and a Coal Tit on feeders.

Robbie Garnett Hide

On the Tack piece there were 260 Wigeon, 40 Shoveler, 2 Bewick’s Swan, 2 Pintail, 4 Tufted Duck, 87 Teal, 8 Crane, 41 Redshank, 19 Ruff, c150 Dunlin, c300 Lapwing and a single Pochard

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Friday 13 December

Rushy

A Whooper swan joined the Bewick’s Swans on the Rushy.

South Lake

On South Lake from Discovery Hide1 Spoonbill, 10 Avocet, 48 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Dunlin, 1 Snipe, c500 Lapwing, 163 Teal, 83 Shoveler, 34 Pochard, 12 Tufted, 12 Gadwall, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 11 Cormorant.

Estuary Tower

On the Pillbox Pool there was 1 Little Egret, 52 Wigeon and 8 Teal. On the Long ground Pool there were 37 Shoveler, 10 Teal and 2 Gadwall. On the Scrape in front of the hide there were 351 Wigeon, 82 Teal and 9 Shoveler. And then on the Dumbles there was a Peregrine along with 2 Dark Bellied Brent Geese and a Little Stint visible on the Tack Piece.

Robbie Garnett Hide

On the Tack Piece there were 8 Cranes.

Kingfisher Hide

Out from the hide there was 1 Great Egret, 9 Redwing, 14 Fieldfare, 2 Little Grebe, 8 Gadwall, 2 Teal, Buzzard, 1 headstarted Curlew (blue ‘28’). As well as Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Robin and Dunnock on the feeders.

Zeiss Hide

From Zeiss Hide there were 139 Lapwing, 28 Dunlin, 1 Snipe, 247 Teal, 61 Wigeon, 17 Shelduck, 340 Canadas plus 1 Pink-footed Goose, 2 farmyard geese & other hybrids.

Other mentions from across the site include a Kingfisher at the back of the Eider pool, a Kestrel heard over the Tack Piece, and 9 White-fronted Geese flying over the car park towards the Canal.

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Thursday 12 December

The Bewick's Swan flock increased to 54 at dawn today.

South Lake

Still hosting the Spoonbill and 12 Avocet, a pair of Goldeneye and a female Goosander added a couple of winter ducks to our day list.

Willow Hide

2 Water Rail and on the feeders, Chiffchaff, Great tit, Blue tit, Robin, Dunnock and House Sparrow.

Three Little Grebe along the channel.

Tack Piece - still the busiest spot for birds

c1000 Wigeon, 4 Bewick's swan, 26 Shoveler, 32 Redshank, 1 Curlew, 3 Crane, 20 Pintail, 1 Buzzard, 1 Marsh Harrier, 669 Lapwing, 209 Golden Plover and 4 Ruff.

Rushy Hide/Peng Observatory

Attracting a large flock of Dunlin + 59 Pochard, 127 Tufted duck, 126 Lapwing, 142 Shelduck, 189 Dunlin.

Estuary Tower - on the Dumbles

171 Wigeon, 41 Teal, 6 Dunlin 1 Little Stint on the left hand island, 191 Barnacle geese, 1 Ross's goose, 1 Peregrine, 1 Crane.

On the Long ground Pool - 292 Teal, and 34 Shoveler

Top New Piece

On the flood, 2 Shelduck, 24 Teal, 60 Lapwing, 74 Dunlin, Cormorant. On the top new piece field, 208 Canada geese, 1 Pink-footed goose, 2 farmyard geese, 60 Wigeon and 11 Teal

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Wednesday 11 December

46 Bewick's Swans on the dawn count- 13 on the Tack Piece and 33 in the Rushy. A count of 91 Pochard on the top pond of the latter site and 14 Cranes were in the Tack Piece first thing. The Coal Tit is still visiting the Kingfisher Hide feeders. 34 Russian White-fronted Geese were seen in the Bottom New Piece.

South Lake

Juvenile Spoonbill remains on site and 12 Avocets at dawn. 80 Shoveler, 400 Lapwing, Great Crested Grebe, 31 Pochard (some moved from Rushy), 18 Shelduck, 45 Tufted Duck and 53 Teal.

Top New Piece

177 Dunlin, 341 Lapwing, 30 Wigeon, 100 Canada Geese.

Kingfisher Hide/Bottom New Piece

2 Little Grebe, 24 Gadwall, 24 Redwing, 5 Fieldfare, Coal Tit, 2 Bullfinch, Buzzard. 34 Russian White-fronted Geese and single Pink-footed Goose.

Estuary Tower

Little Stint on the scrape.

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Tuesday 10 December

Rushy Hide/Peng Observatory

An increase in Bewick's Swans on the back of the NE winds, at least 39 now on the reserve, just beginning to see them ranging to other parts of the reserve, two on Top New Piece for twenty minutes and three visiting the Ox Piece fields and floods. Over the very windy weekend the flock were hunkered down sleeping on the Dumbles.

Estuary Tower

A Fox kept the flock of Canada and Barnacle Geese alert, the Ross' Goose, Snow x Bar-headed and Canada x Barnacle Goose hybrids also still present. A single Crane and male Marsh Harrier also mobbed the Fox. The Little Stint was again feeding by the scrape.

Kingfisher Hide

17 Gadwall, 2 Little Grebe, the male Marsh Harrier and a hunting juvenile Goshawk this morning, no surprise that the flock of 280 Teal on the Bottom New Piece flood decided to move on.

South Lake

At least 15 Cattle Egret with 15 Little Egret but flew off towards the canal, a mixed flock of 35 egrets were feeding in the village fields not long after. The juvenile Spoonbill, 9 Avocet, 63 Shoveler, c90 Lapwing, Tufted Ducks, Pochards, Cormorants and the GC Grebe.

Tack Piece

Still the main attraction for 1000s of waterbirds, regular flushes as raptors try their luck or pass by. 112 Shoveler, 40 Pintail, 900 Wigeon, 300 Golden Plover, 500 Black-tailed Godwit, 700 Dunlin, 300 Lapwing, 400 Teal, flocks of Redshank, Ruff and Curlew.

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Monday 9 December

All hides except South Finger are now open again.

Please note that we may need to spend the morning clearing up the fallen trees across our hide network, South Finger in particular will need a bit of time to clear. The Internal Drainage board excavator operational on the Top New Piece again in the morning, no birds present on Sunday, too exposed to the gales. The wind is due to drop off overnight so access to the Estuary Tower should hopefully resume.

Sunday 8 December

We are only able to open Rushy Hide/Peng Observatory and South Lake Discovery and Hogarth Hides due to Storm Darragh. A number of trees and large branches have come down over the stormy weekend and we are avoiding the large trees. Barriers, ropes and are in place to close off the areas that may be of risk.

Highlights

28 Bewick's Swans commuting between the Dumbles, Tack Piece and Rushy.

South Lake

Adult non-breeding plumage Mediterranean Gull with the Black-headed Gulls, juvenile Spoonbill and 9 Avocets, a few Cattle Egret early morning and gathering of Lapwing and ducks in the sheltered spots.

Although closed today, from the Estuary Tower, the Green-winged Teal was on the Long Ground Pool with 1000 Teal and the Pink-footed Goose was on the Dumbles with the Barnacle/Canada Geese.

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Saturday 7 December

The site was closed all day.

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Friday 6 December

Eight Cattle Egret on the South Lake. Two Grey Plover on the Tack Piece along with 1000s of birds.

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Thursday 5 December

Drake Green-winged Teal on the central flood of the Tack Piece.

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