Many thanks to volunteers Rob Werran, Nick Shimwell and Sarah Burhouse for assisting with our BBS and WeBS count last Wednesday – in the somewhat unsuitable conditions of wind and cold temperatures! Here are the WeBS results….
235 tufted duck
64 teal
51 mallard
23 gadwall
16 wigeon
11 pochard
10 shoveler
4 goldeneye
6 mute swan
2 whooper swan
37 canada goose
8 greylag goose
4 shelduck
165 coot
3 moorhen
16 great crested grebe
1 little grebe
4 grey heron
4 little egret
7 lapwing
5 dunlin
4 snipe
4 oystercatcher
2 green sandpiper
1 ringed plover
1 cormorant
It is clear that numbers of wintering wildfowl are dwindling, as expected for the March WeBS count. Both wigeon and shoveler have dropped significantly from their peak counts in February, mallard and gadwall have also decreased. There remains good numbers of tufted duck, but we expect this to drop too in the next few weeks.
Visitors for the breeding season are also upon us, with 2 pairs of oystercatchers on site and a returning ringed plover on Phase 3 – the first of the year. A group of 5 dunlin on passage was nice to see, also on Phase 3.
And finally, also on Wednesday we had the first sand martins of 2014 over Phase 3. Numbers increased throughout the latter part of last week, with double figures present on site by Friday.