Wetland Bird Survey June 2024

Hopefully if you've visited in the past couple of weeks you'll have felt a sense of relief that the track to the car park is now nice and smooth, rather than being like the surface of the moon. You may well have also noticed that the wild bird seed plot next to the car park has been re-seeded again recently, this happens annually and whilst the seed went in later this year (weather related) hopefully in the near future fresh green shoots will be seen and then come the autumn time we'll have a good crop of seed ready for the hungry flocks of wintering passerines. We're using a slightly different mix this year, to see how it compares to those previously used, with the mix containing 50% Spring Wheat, 30% Spring Barley, 7% Sunflower, 5% Red Millet, 5% White Millet and 3% Quinoa.

In terms of the recent WeBS count this was carried out by a depleted team this week, but the whole site was still covered, with good numbers of Common Terns and Great White Egrets reported. One pair of terns settled onto the new raft in front of the Beach Hut almost as soon as it was anchored into place last month.

In terms of other recent sightings highlights have included a Little Tern (photo below by Stuart Carlton), Red-crested Pochard, Bittern, Ruff, Cuckoo, Yellow Wagtail and Black-tailed Godwit.