Our recent wetland bird count revealed the numbers of birds taking advantage of our managed habitats. We currently have over 1,500 Wigeon grazing on the short grass around the water bodies. 493 Teal are searching among the secluded pool edges, a thousand Lapwing and 215 Curlew are taking advantage of the very wet grasslands and a single Green-winged Teal is hiding from us on Back Saltholme. 6 Goldeneye have joined us for the winter and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers are at Saltholme West.
In the reedbeds, at least 2 Bittern are lurking, A Cetti's Warbler is calling and wintering Kingfishers can be seen in the cuts from the Wildlife Watchpoint Hide.
Kingfisher at Watchpoint Hide this week by Ian Forrest.
Annoyingly, this bird likes to hunt from reed stems instead of the carefully placed perches I put out for them. Sadly, we found a consumed Kingfisher at Haverton yesterday, in a circle of plucked feathers typical of a Sparrowhawk kill. And guess what................... the other day I disturbed a Sparrowhawk from one of my carefully placed Kingfisher perches.