It's been another great winter over at Beckingham Marshes, with record numbers of birds and some good scarcities.

Wigeon numbers have been their highest yet, with over 600 birds present in January and February. Wigeon spend the winter grazing our grassland, getting the sward into good condition for the lapwings to breed in the spring, so the more wigeon we have, the better the grassland for our lapwings in April.

Wigeon grazing wet grassland.

Other duck species present include mallard, gadwall, shoveler and shelduck. Pink-footed geese have been present too this winter, being seen on the wet grassland fields throughout most of the winter. 

Tree sparrows are ever present and can be seen and heard in the hedgerows around the field perimeters of the site.

A great white egret was seen in January and was a first for the site and a hooded crow in November, also a first, was a very good record.

Great white egret - a first for the site.