Anyone familiar with the term WeBS will know that it stands for Wetland Bird Survey, a BTO led national survey that monitors populations of non-breeding water birds, within a core period of October-March, but also year round. Here at Beckingham we have been taking part in WeBS since last July, counting all ducks, geese, swans, rails, gallinules, herons, egrets, gulls, terns, waders and kingfishers on site. The counts occur once a month - usually in the middle of the month and can take between 2-3 hours, depending on what is around.
So for this month, there are still some nice numbers of duck around, hopefully many that are still present on site will breed - the wet areas in field 9, viewable from the viewing platform are ideal for summering duck species and keep your eyes open, we had a passage male garganey on these scrapes 3 years ago, so you never know! Little egrets and grey herons are ever present on site, again favouring the wet areas of field 9. It is unusual to see Canada geese on site and this may even be a site tick for me. But the undoubted highlights of the day are the good numbers of lapwing and 2 curlew using the site.
Here are the results of this month's count, conducted yesterday -
11 gadwall
7 teal
6 mallard
6 shoveler
2 Canada goose
2 little egret
1 grey heron
24 lapwing
2 curlew
1 snipe
2 moorhen
Also on site yesterday was the first singing whitethroat of the year in the field opposite the Willow Works, tree sparrows calling from the hedgerows, beautiful male linnets singing from fence post perches - most glorious birds and the first orange-tip butterflies of the year.