It was Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) time again today and many thanks to volunteer Stuart Carlton for doing the survey for us! Here are Stuart’s results –
35 tufted duck
33 mallard
9 gadwall
6 shelduck
4 pochard
2 shoveler
1 teal
20 greylag goose
19 canada goose
60 coot
3 moorhen
5 grey heron
4 little egret
19 great crested grebe
12 mute swan
11 lapwing
6 oystercatcher
6 ringed plover
2 little ringed plover
1 redshank
1 black-tailed godwit
4 cormorant
12 black-headed gull
3 common tern
Also on site today were 2 hobby’s, a male wheatear, yellow wagtail, my first blue damselfly of the year (a distant teneral, so no species ID!) and a mass emergence of Sialis lutaria (alderfly) – they were everywhere on Phase 1 this morning! It's nice to see the first chicks of the year too, with two young oystercatchers on Phase 1 and two broods of mallard ducklings on the balancing pond and Phase 1.