I was joined by volunteers Rob Werran and Nick Shimwell on Wednesday for the monthly WeBS count. October is always a good time of year, as migration is still in progress, with passage birds and winter visitors arriving. The morning’s results are as follows –
132 mallard
120 teal
116 tufted duck
34 shoveler
31 gadwall
13 pochard
4 wigeon
1 pintail – female at the southern end of the site.
Many of the ducks are coming out of eclipse plumage now and are looking stunning. It is certainly one of the best times of year to appreciate the fine plumage of male wildfowl.
18 mute swan
156 greylag goose
2 canada goose
120 coot
15 moorhen – a large number of moorhens for this site
6 great crested grebe – the late youngster that hatched in September is doing well
2 little grebe
5 grey heron
5 little egret
1 bittern – so nice to see these regularly at the moment
6 cormorant
201 lapwing
35 snipe – good numbers starting to build for the winter
3 green sandpiper
3 dunlin
1 redshank
1 water rail
95 black-headed gull
1 common gull
1 lesser black-backed gull
2 kingfisher