A sunny Sunday
Its a lovely sunny morning here today and the big news so far is of a Hoopoe, seen flying south past the Kingfisher Hide just after 11am. The bird didn't appear to land and continued heading south over the tree line and then lost to view.
Duck and geese numbers appear to be up too, so we're seeing a few new arrivals. We've also had a steady passage of passerines over the car park this morning, including several hundred Redwing and Fieldfare.
Holden Tower
A mixed morning with only a single Crane (Slimbridge chick 2015) present first thing, but was later joined by 12 other birds before lunch. Three White-fronted Geese were present and a selection of waders were on the floodwater to the south of The Dumbles including 4 Ruff, 30+ Golden Plover, 60+ Dunlin and 300+ Lapwing. A Chiffchaff was following the Long-tailed Tit flock as it passed the hide and a Cetti's Warbler was very vocal in the reedbed nearby.
.
Rushy Hide
A female Mandarin made a total of 9 species of duck on the Rushy this morning. We've started our winter feeds ahead of the swans arriving so there are lots of Pintail, Pochard, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Shelduck to be seen along with a few Teal, Gadwall and Shoveler. A Little Grebe was also present. Look out for the presumed Red-crested Pochard x Pintail hybrid here too. The bird was seen this morning.
.
Martin Smith Hide
The hide is offering great views of Teal at present with 68 present this morning. A single female Shoveler was also amongst them along with a Snipe. A Curlew flew over the Tack Piece.
.
Zeiss Hide
The Spotted Redshank remains on the Top New Piece scrape along with 22 Redshank and a few hundred Lapwing. Six Dunlin also dropped in but most of the waders are staying out on The Dumbles, although regularly taking to the wing - presumably a Peregrine is on the hunt as the birds seemed on edge today. Out on the Bottom New Piece were around 1200+ Wigeon, a definite increase. These too occasionally taking flight and dropping on to the Top New Piece scrape before heading back out to graze. A flock of 24 White-fronted Geese were also on the scrape, with another 8 birds grazing with the Wigeon over the fence. Five of the Cranes dropped in in front of the hide before heading back out on to The Dumbles. A Stonechat was also feeding along the seawall fence line.
.
South Lake Hide
A rather quiet scrape and lake this morning with only 40 Black-tailed Godwits present along with a single Redshank. Amongst the Tufted Duck on the lake were 59 Shoveler, 2 Gadwall and a single Pochard. Four Shelduck and several Teal were on the scrape.
.
Kingfisher Hide
Aside from the Hoopoe passing by, other birds seen included a Sparrowhawk, at least 220 Barnacle Geese on the Bottom New Piece with 15 Curlew and 2 Water Rail were calling from the reedbed.
.
