Recent Sightings (31st Jan-2nd Feb)
British Steel Hide
Some nice early morning high tides pushed good numbers of waders onto the lagoons, including c.500 Dunlin, c.650 Black-tailed Godwits, c.150 Redshank, 20 Knot, c.250 Curlew, 53 Lapwing and 1 Spotted Redshank (on the 2nd). Wildfowl have included 111 Wigeon, 6 Gadwall, 18 Canada Goose, 54 Greylag Goose, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 7 Mute Swans, 5 Shoveler, c.250 Teal, 5 Tufted Ducks and 10 Pochard. Other species have included a Spoonbill (up until the 2nd), 2 Little Egrets, a Buzzard, a Merlin, 38 Cormorant and a 3rd winter Yellow-legged Gull in amongst the evening gull roost on the saline lagoons.
Millennium Wetlands
Wildfowl on the Deep Water Lake have including 3 Mute Swans, 43 Tufted Ducks, 2 Pochard, 27 Teal, 2 Shoveler, 31 Gadwall, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Shelduck, 11 Coot and the female Ring-necked Duck (on the 31st). 10 Snipe, 3 Lapwing, a Redshank and 5 Black-tailed Godwits have been seen from the Peter Scott hide. Other species seen around the wetlands have included 4 Siskins, a Sparrowhawk, a Kingfisher, a Buzzard, a Grey Heron and a Little Egret. It's really beginning to feel like Spring out on the wetlands with Thrushes, Tits and Chaffinches in full song, Snowdrops and Daffodils coming into flower and Hawthorns and Willows starting to leaf! It's only a few more weeks until we start seeing our first spring migrants!
