Today saw staff and volunteers conducting the monthly WeBS counts around the reserve on one of the nicest days we have had for a few weeks. For those of you who don’t know, WeBS stands for the Wetland Bird Survey and is a nationwide survey that is completed monthly, counting all the birds on many of the countries wetlands by volunteers who choose their areas to survey. The areas that we count on Middleton Lakes are Fishers Mill, Jubilee Wetlands, North Pit and all the pools and ponds in between.
The purpose of the survey is to work out populations, trends and distribution of species and in turn, important wetland areas for our birds.
So what did we see...
There were good numbers of Lapwing (228), Tufted duck (196), Coot (196), Teal (171) and Mallard (112). The Geese are certainly making their mark on the North Pit at the moment with 51 Greylag geese and 21 Canada geese around.
With the water levels still very high (although now starting to go down!), ducks were the feature of the day with Shoveler (27), Wigeon (18), Gadwall (16) and Pochard (7) all making regular appearances and it was nice to see Goldeneye (6) and Shelduck (4) on the pools.
Other birds that were seen included Little grebe, Great-crested grebe, Little egret, Cormorant, Grey heron, Moorhen, Mute swan, Herring gull, Lesser black-backed gull, Black-headed gull and Snipe at various points throughout the count.
The WeBS count is also a good time to see birds that don’t get counted and one of our count groups were treated to 4 Chiffchaffs on the West side of the Jubilee Wetlands and 2 Stonechats near the hide while another group heard a Cettis warbler down near Fishers Mill.
Away from WeBS and the wetlands, the feeders are still the place to start a good birding day! This morning there were Blue, Great and Long-tailed tits, Robins, Reed buntings and Lesser redpolls. In the woodland we also saw Buzzards, Siskins, Grey wagtail and there were a number of Song thrushes singing early morning. They obviously think spring is coming, although it is hard to argue with them if you were out in the sun today!
So a lovely and enjoyable day was had by all, counting some great birds and enjoying the Sun, which has become a rare sight at the moment!
I will leave you with a photo from today overlooking the Jubilee wetlands, notice the clear blue skies and flat calm water!