Recent Sightings 9th-15th October
British Steel Hide
The stand out highlight from the British Steel Hide this past week has been a flock of eleven Spoonbills frequenting the saline lagoons, usually the best time to catch them is on the rising tide as the channels in the saltmarsh begin to fill up. Also seen from the hide this week have been two Spotted Redshank and a Curlew Sandpiper (last seen on the 14th). Wader numbers have included 546 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 151 Knot, 66 Redshank and 33 Greenshank. Also from the hide has been two Peregrines including a young bird which killed a Woodpigeon over the Dafen scrapes. A good count of 406 Teal was taken from the dafen scrapes last Sunday as well.
Millennium Wetlands
Sparrowhawks have been regular on the wetlands this week with three seen on the 10th, Kingfishers have been seen also, but slightly less so in the later half of the week. 17 Swallows were seen passing through on the 15th, perhaps some of our last of the year. Skylarks, Siskins, Chaffinches and Meadow Pipits have been passing over in good numbers throughout the week. On the sunnier days we have seen some of our last Butterflies and Dragonflies of the year with Commas, Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells, Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters all recorded on the reserve.
