After a 2 week break over christmas, the semi early start was a bit of a shock to the system! It was nice to get down onto the reserve and see what the water levels were doing and the number of birds present. And it was very wet down on the moor, not just the reserve but the surrounding areas, the MOD land in particular is now a lake! The warden Joe found out just how deep some of the flood water was when trying to walk between Malt Pit and the MOD land, up to the waist in water he went, waders filling with very cold water!
Bird numbers have increased dramatically since the last WeBS count, loads of lapwing and golden plover present with some dunlin flying with them. There were reports of ruff at the weekend, however we didn't locate any this morning. Teal have increased most obviously, considering the last WeBS there were 241 there are now 1844!! There were also good pintail numbers out on the MOD 'lake' and the three whooper swans are still present.