I had a count of 720 Shoveler on the reserve at Cliffe on Sunday 5th January. This beats my previous highest count for there, or anywhere else in the UK, by 340!! ie almost double. There were 460 just on the Flamingo Pool alone, plus 150 on the Ski Pool and 110 on the first Black Barn Pool. All counted at once from Allen’s Hill. The total is 4 x GB threshold and almost 2 x the international threshold of significance.
Also 120 Pintail, 220 Gadwall and 24 Goldeneye on the reserve plus several 100 Teal and Wigeon which I didn’t have time to count.
On the negative side, I only saw 90 Black-Tail Godwits at high tide and even they didn't settle. Earlier I checked the Thames at low tide off the Bays but had no sign of the flock there. A complete contrast to last winter when up to 9,000 roosting on the islands on Cliffe Pools!? Rodney last reported the flock on 26th December (1,200) after claiming a count of 8,000 on 18th December – all around St Mary’s Bay. Throughout the winter so far I’ve not seen any appreciable numbers roosting at Cliffe since 790 on 4th November. I did have birds roosting/feeding on the grazing marsh between the Bays on 24th November (2,500) and I had 1,450 roosting on the sea wall at St Mary's Bay on 1 December, followed by 2,190 on the mud when the tide ebbed. Not sure where they are at the moment or where they are roosting. Sightings provided by Murray Orchard.