Happy New Year to all our blog readers – hope you all have a great 2013. Our year has started off wet (there’s a surprise!), with the Trent bursting it’s banks again just before Christmas. This has filled the site up again to full capacity, unfortunately setting us back a bit in terms of getting water off site. The water level is now starting to recede again slowly, so at least access to our containers and polytunnel is now dry again, with the central track up to Phase 1 dry also, enabling me to get up there and keep the feeders topped up and to check our floating bridge, which is holding up brilliantly!
Bird-wise, it’s been a good start to the new year, with 16 whooper swans this morning. These are the first sightings on site since October. The birds were in two groups of 8, with one group settling on Phase 2 for about 30 minutes before flying off to the south west. 1000 golden plover and 700 lapwing were excellent to watch too this morning, as the birds flew over Langford, Cromwell Pits and the surrounding fields.
There are also plenty of other wildfowl on site including tufted duck, mallard, wigeon, gadwall, teal, pochard and mute swan, with great crested grebe, little grebe and black-headed and common gulls also out on the water.
4 bullfinches in the Phase 1 scrub, accompanied by a small group of goldfinches provided a bit of colour against the grey leafless trees.