Last Thursday, our usual WeBS'ers Matt and Stuart completed December's count. Here are this month's results....
247 mallard
83 teal
63 tufted duck
53 gadwall
9 goldeneye
7 shoveler
3 pochard
7 mute swan
68 Canada goose
20 greylag goose
42 coot
7 moorhen
3 little egret
2 grey heron
80 lapwing
5 golden plover
2 redshank
1 snipe
41 cormorant
1 kingfisher
110 black-headed gull
2 great black-backed gull
And it's been a great winter so far for our reedbed specialists....the bearded tits have been seen regularly recently - almost every day in fact! They are favouring the reedy areas around the boardwalk, but have been seen from pretty much any bit of reed visible from the visitor trails, so keep you eyes open for them! The bittern has been recorded up on Phase 1 recently too, with a sighting of the bird from the Beach Hut flying into the eastern island. Water rail and Cetti's warbler continue to be very vocal and a record of a woodcock from last week is the first on site for a couple of years.
Reedbed specialist number 1 - bearded tit. Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Reedbed specialist number 2 - bittern. Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)