Increase in Lapwing

I did the WeBS count this morning since the high tide was two hours before sunrise on Sunday. Lapwing numbers have gone way up from last weeks maximum count of 113 to an impressive 929 this morning. They were very easily spooked (as Lapwing are) for the whole count, but I manage to quickly get through them without any major movements.

Other counts include; 1225 Dunlin, 500 Black-tailed Godwit, 350 Curlew, three Bar-tailed Godwit, 391 Knot, 11 Greenshank, a Spotted Redshank, a Grey Plover, 45 Redshank and eight Snipe.

Duck numbers from the reserve included 221 Pintail, 206 Wigeon, 76 Tufted Duck, 40 Shoveler, 126 Gadwall, two Pochard and a disappointing count of only 23 Teal.

Wigeon

A Red Kite (not that common here despite being in Wales) flew over on Tuesday while we were cutting down some large trees which were deemed unsafe by someone who came in and did a tree survey a few weeks ago.

Other work carried out over the past couple of weeks has included mostly cutting trees down and strimming and clearing areas of scrub. We've put up quite a few bird feeders now the cold weather has set in, and these are already being visited by large numbers of finches and tits.