Recent sightings from 03 to 09 December 2018
Much to our delight and to the delight of our visitors, the Starlings are still around to perform their murmurations and, even better, they decided to come closer and to perform right over the visitor centre. That way, we got some great views of them this week and when locking up the visitor centre in the evening we would still hear them chattering about in the nearby reedbeds. A Sparrowhawk made regular appearances close to the visitor centre as well and could even be spotted to catch its dinner when flying past the bird feeder. Marsh Harriers and Stonechats were seen flying over the reedbeds. A rare sight of a Tawny owl was one of the highlights on Tuesday alongside a sighting of a Bittern in flight which has also been spotted once more on Friday. On the mudflats, you could still see a big number of waders with hundreds of Lapwings and an even bigger number of Dunlins. Those who braved the rainy and windy weather conditions were often rewarded with some truly spectacular aerial displays from these wading birds.
Bittern, Blackbird, Black-headed gull, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's warbler, Chaffinch, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Greylag goose, Herring gull, House sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser black-backed gull, Linnet, Little egret, Little grebe, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Meadow pipit, Moorhen, Mute swan, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied wagtail, Redshank, Redwing, Reed bunting, Robin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Snipe, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Tawny owl, Teal, Tufted duck, Water rail, Wood pigeon and Wren.
Please note that we take our recent sightings list from the visitor sightings board that anyone can contribute to. This is great as everyone can get involved, but obviously can lead to potential errors too as they aren’t always verified! We try to keep this list as accurate as possible but if you see something unusual feel free to comment here!
Photo credit: Starling murmuration by Jeremy White