Practise your bird song
Now is a great time to start getting to grips with bird song as our resident species start singing before the arrival of our migrants in a few weeks time.
Now is a great time to start getting to grips with bird song as our resident species start singing before the arrival of our migrants in a few weeks time. This morning a great variety of species were warming up including Robin, Dunnock, Greenfinch, Goldcrest and Reed Bunting. Have a go at seeing if you can learn these species before our summer migrants arrive and add to the chorus, in particular our warblers!
If you still need help with your bird song identification don't forget we run special Bird Song Workshops in May as part of the International Dawn Chorus weekend. Find out more details on our website here.
Willow Hide
We still have at least two Water Rail under feeders this morning, and the feeders themselves are busy with House Sparrows, Chaffinch and Dunnock plus the usual Blue Tits and Great Tits. They are being emptied daily.
Kingfisher Hide
A flock of 419 Golden Plover were on the Bottom New Piece field this morning, resting and bathing. Also in the field were at least 64 Snipe. Along the edge of the field were two male Roe Deer jostling for the attention of two females.
Robbie Garnett Hide
A flock of 17 Redshank were roosting on the shoreline, 48 Curlew were feeding in the field, a pair of Oystercatcher were towards the Stephen Kirk Hide and several hundred Wigeon were scattered across the view.
Holden Tower
At least 97 White-fronted Geese were to the south of the cross fence on The Warth and another flock of 41 birds were closer, behind the Dumbles scrape. At least one of the Bar-headed Geese was still on the edge of the river with Barnacle flock, and 7 Cranes were present - Oakie, Sherbert and their juvenile, plus Ruby, one of her juveniles and the unringed adult. A flock of 44 Curlew were feeding to the north around a floodwater pool.
Rushy Hide
We still have a good number of Pintail this morning along with 51 Tufted Duck and 18 Pochard. As our breeding waders are starting to explore the area and investigate nest sites we'll stop feeding the duck, as they'll also soon depart for their breeding grounds. Waders this morning included 4 Black-tailed Godwit, a single Redshank, 5 Avocet and a pair of Oystercatcher.
South Lake
A flock of 50 Avocet were roosting on the wader scrape along with 36 Black-tailed Godwit and 7 Dunlin. A pair of Oystercatcher were on the causeway from the Discovery Hide. The deep lake held a single Pochard, 17 Tufted Duck, 2 Cormorant and Great Crested Grebe plus a flock of Greylag Geese.
