Green-winged teal and two water rails

A bit of excitement this week with a green-winged teal on the folly pond, which is a rare sighting and hasn't been seen on the reserve for quite a while. It has been spotted most days this week, and we are on the look out again today. We are really pleased to have encountered two water rails on the peter scott trail, which were seen yesterday afternoon. The best place to see them is around the bird feeder area. Other sightings from the week include 3 pintail, 40+ redshank, 3 shelduck and 23 shovelers on the folly pond. 100 pink-footed geese flew over the reserve yesterday, however didn’t stay for a visit. Our latest barnacle goose count is roughly 5, 500 and whooper swan numbers are steady at around 100 every day. Yellowhammer numbers are still good with groups of 10/20 easily spotted in the hedges around the PSO. I also caught a lucky glimpse of a weasel scuttling across the path yesterday!

Unable to visit us in person or missing your daily fix of swans, waders, and badgers’ antics, then click on the link below to check out our webcam which is set on the Whooper pond during the day, and then set to view the badger feeding area from 5pm onwards.

https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/caerlaveroc...

This week's high tide times are:

Sun 9/1 17:15- 8.5 m

Mon 10/1- 18:10- 8.0 m

Tues 11/1- 19:14- 7.7 m

Wed 12/1- 08:00- 7.4 m

Thurs 13/1- 08:56- 7.5 m

Photo credit: Alex Hillier

As well as this week's highlights, you are likely to see the following on the reserve:

Birds	Mammals			Named Whooper Swans
Mute Swan	Hare			Yellow ZHD - Renouf
Greylag geese	Roe Deer			Yellow ZND - Rosie
Canada Geese	Weasel			Yellow ZLD - McMurdoston
Shelduck	Stoat			Orange XLX - Linda Graham
Mallard	Fox			Yellow ZLS - Handel
Gadwall	Otter			Yellow ZXP - Mary
Shoveler	Badger			Red APR - Elsie Barbara
Teal				Orange YFB - Eric Anthony
Moorhen				Yellow ZHV - Wampool
Cormorant				Yellow ZJS - Hendrik
Little Egret				Orange YSJ - Sheldon Whooper
Grey Heron				Orange YTF - Odette
Buzzard				Orange XKU - Solway Siren
Kestrel				Orange XLL - Chris
Peregrine Falcon				Yellow ZLA - Beatrice
Merlin				Yellow ZJI - Indigo Montoya
Sparrowhawk				Yellow ZJX - Polly
Golden Plover				Yellow ZVL - Nobby Nobkin
Oystercatcher				Yellow ZNP - Lucky Linda
Lapwing				Orange XLD - Donald Ivan
Common Sandpiper				Yellow ZFV - Giffnock
Redshank				Yellow ZLP - Keith John
Black-tailed Godwit				Yellow ZNC - Rowena Two
Curlew				Yellow ZSB - Sugar Baby
Snipe				Yellow ZPY - Sigurdswan
Black-headed Gull				Yellow ZJH - Aspen
Common Gull				Yellow ZJN - Nado
Herring Gull				Yellow ZVC - Ava-Grace
Great Black Backed Gull				Orange XLJ - Bernard
Wood Pigeon				Yellow ZJZ - Snoopy
Collared Dove				Yellow ZLJ - TJ Whooper
Great Spotted Woodpecker				Yellow ZNA - George
Skylark				Yellow ZNU - Janis
Yellowhammer
Redwing
Fieldfare
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Song Thrush
Blackbird
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Wren
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Treecreeper
Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion Crow
Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Twite