Common, black-headed & Mediterranean gulls
Large numbers of common gulls have been onsite this week - they have arrived a bit late this winter.
There are fewer Mediterranean gulls in the mix than usual -but with high gull numbers and the Med. gulls not all fully coloured up and often sitting with heads tucked under their wing it can be difficult to discern between the three types of gulls onsite. Common gulls are smaller than herring gulls and have a yellow beak and greenish legs. Mediterranean gulls (pictured above) are slightly large than black-headed gulls – their heads are black in breeding season, unlike the deep brown faces of the black-headed gulls.
We are still seeing large numbers of flocking lapwing on site despite the weather warming up. Their flocks start breaking up in February and they return to breeding spots and start displaying to declare territory and nest. We look forward to the slide whistle pee-wit calls and the aerial swoops and dives of the male display flights. Previously we have had as many as eight pairs nesting on the wet grassland but last year only four pairs raised chicks here so we are crossing our fingers for the lapwing this spring.
A great egret was back onsite last weekend, a barn owl was spotted perched on one of the owl box entrance ledges and the numbers of tits and finches in the wood loop is increasing with hints of spring in current the weather.
Please Note: these sightings are from morning counts taken by our wardens. Only certain sections of the site are counted on a rotating basis. This is not a complete record of everything on site.
Wed 14 Feb
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 7 pochard
Ramsar and Sand Martin hide: 10 snipe, 120 lapwing, 2 wigeon, and 4 pochard
Wetland Discovery: 4 pochard, 1 bullfinch
Scrape hide: 11 Canada geese, 2 greylag geese, 1 water rail, 4 gadwall, 19 mallards, 1 pochard, 2 snipe, 8 lapwing, and 1 coot
Tues 14 Feb
Ramsar & Sand Martin hides: 6 Canada geese, 6 snipe, 60 gadwall, 24 mallards, 4 shoveler, 11 coots, 2 moorhens, 12 shelducks, 3 cormorants, 118 lapwing, 2 wigeon, 2 tufted ducks, 7 pochard, 6 herring gull, 8 Mediterranean gulls, 300 back-headed gulls, 300 common gulls
Scrape hide: 1 kingfisher, 1 snipe.
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 16 pochard
Mon 13 Feb
Reedbed Boardwalk: 1 water rail, 1 buzzard
Ramsar & Sand Martin hide: 6 snipe, 118 lapwing, 12 common gull, 3 Mediterranean gulls, 4 pochards, 1 oystercatcher, 10 shelducks
Wood Loop: 1 great spotted woodpecker.
Lapwing hide: 2 mallards, 2 Canada geese
Wetland Discovery: 1 pochard
Scrape hide: 1 kingfisher, 3 snipe, 1 pochard
Sun 12 Feb
Wetland Discovery: 4 Canada geese, 3 pochard, 3 wood pigeon, 2 chaffinch, 11 tufted ducks, 1 bullfinch
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 5 pochard
Scrape hide: 5 pochards, 4 snipe
Ramsar & Sand Martin hide: 9 pochard, 6 wigeon, 112 lapwing, 15 shelduck, 15 snipe, 12 Mediterranean gulls, and 560 common gulls.
Wetland Discovery: 21 mallards, 4 black-headed gulls, 1 Cetti’s warbler
Sat 11 Feb
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 19 mallards, 2 coots, 1 moorhen, 10 pochards, 10 Canada geese, 13 tufted ducks, 19 black-headed gulls, 1 greylag goose.
Ramsar & Sand martin hides: 17 snipe, 5 pochard, 84 lapwing, 200 common gulls, 16 Mediterranean gulls, and 3 wigeon
Scrape hide: 5 pochard, 1 great white egret, 3 snipe.
Fri 10 Feb
Woodland loop: 1 crow, 6 jackdaws, 4 woodpigeons, 11 great tits, 3 robins, 7 chaffinches, 8 blue tits, 4 mallards, 3 moorhens, 1 pheasant, 4 greenfinches, 1 blackbird.
Wetland Discovery: 4 pochards, 1 barn owl
Ramsar & Sand martin hides: 1 great egret, 7 cattle egrets, 10 shelducks, 88 lapwing, 7 snipe, 2 common gulls, 7 pochard, and 5 wigeon
Scrape hide: 1 little grebe, 1 snipe
