Gale force
Storm Doris is certainly giving us some windy conditions this morning, but thankfully the rain cleared early on. Many bird are taking shelter but there is still a great selection around to see.
South Lake Hides
The flock of Avocet were huddled tightly together with 23 birds present. The Black-tailed Godwit flock were also tightly packed and numbered 152 birds. A small group of Dunlin and a Redshank were feeding along the back shoreline of the scrape. The duck marsh, viewed from the Hogarth Hide, was the staging ground for a disagreement between the two pairs of Oystercatchers currently contesting the area for the breeding season. A total of 26 Shoveler were feeding across the scrape, some performing their pirouetting feeding routine.
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Holden Tower (Dumbles and Tack Piece)
Very windy and very blowy across the Dumbles but a group of 11 hardy Meadow Pipits were feeding around the edge of the scrape. The Peregrine was sat out on the river bank and the flock of 200+ Barnacle Geese were feeding towards the south end of the saltmarsh. Out on the Tack Piece were 150 Wigeon, 48 Shelduck and a small number of Teal.
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Kingfisher Hide
The Zeiss Hide scrape was rather empty with the wind, only 30 Shelduck were present. The Bottom New Piece held 200 Lapwing, 253 Golden Plover, a single Curlew and 450 Dunlin whilst on the pond were a pair of Gadwall and 2 Little Grebe. The male Great Spotted Woodpecker was again on the peanut feeder next to the hide.
