Lapwing, cattle egrets & snipe

Across the past week, we have had large numbers of lapwings and cattle egrets.

The Ramsar and Sand Martin hides produced the biggest concentrations, with lapwing counts repeatedly topping 90 and reaching as high as 130, while cattle egrets peaked at 53 on the 9th and 30 on the 11th. These high totals stood out against the steady background of pochard, teal, mallard, and other common waterfowl.

Other species appeared in good numbers too, especially snipe, which reached 35 on the 5th and showed up regularly across several hides. Shoveler, gadwall, tufted ducks, and geese were widespread, and occasional highlights—such as a daytime marsh harrier, a mid-morning ringtail hen harrier, and a kingfisher—added some variety. Smaller woodland and reedbed birds filled out the lists, including tits, thrushes, robins, and Cetti’s warblers.

Large numbers of pochards were recorded throughout the week, with multiple hides reporting steady counts each day.

Other Highlights: cattle egrets, lapwings, kingfisher, little grebe, teal, mandarin ducks

Wed 11 Feb

Ramsar & Sand Martin hides: 9 pochard, 1 marsh harrier flyover, 99 lapwings, 30 cattle egret (late afternoon).

Scrape hide: 3 coots, 10 Canada geese, 4 greylag geese, 38 mallard, 4 pochard, 2 teal.

Tues 10 Feb

Ramsar & Sand Martin hides: 36 shoveler, 8 pochard, 4 black-headed gulls, 17 teal, 5 tufted duck, 5 cormorants, 2 carrion crows, 2 wood pigeons, 1 kingfisher, 4 cackling X barnacle geese cross, 1 pheasant, 12 greylag geese, 9 Canada geese, 6 moorhen, 5 coot, 26 mallard, 105 lapwing, 2 mute swan, 18 snipe, 13 gadwall.

Lapwing hide: 1 little grebe

Scrape hide: 10 pochard, 1 snipe

Arun Riverlife: 2 pochard

Willow Sphere: 5 mandarins.

Mon 9 Feb

Lapwing hide: 13 mallards, 2 coots, 1 Cetti’s warber, 1 song thrush

Scrape hide: 1 pochard, 1 little grebe

Ramsar & Sand Martin hides: 10 pochard, 107 lapwings, 53 cattle egrets, 14 snipe.

Sun 8 Feb

Wetland Discovery area: 27 mallards, 6 tufted ducks, 2 mute swans, 4 Canada geese, 4 blue tits, 2 carrion crows, 2 great tits, 4 long-tailed tits, 1 wren, 1 robin, 2 Cetti’s warbler, 1 goldcrest, 4 woodpigeons, 2 gadwall, 1 cormorant

Ramsar and Sand Martin hides: 130 lapwings, 9 pochard, 4 snipe, 4 cackling geese.

Scrape hide: 5 pochard, 4 snipe.

Arun Riverlife lagoon: 3 pochard

Sat 7 Feb

Arun Riverlife lagoon: 1 cormorant, 8 Canada geese, 1 greylag goose, 2 pochards, 17 tufted ducks, 18 mallards, 2 coots, 5 gadwalls.

Ramsar & Sand Martin hides: 9 pochard, 4 snipe, 4 cackling geese, 80 lapwings.

Scrape hide: 5 pochard.

Fri 6 Feb

Wetland Discovery area: 2 pochard

Ramsar & Sand Martin hides: 90 lapwings, 4 cackling X barnacle geese, 11 pochards.

Woodland Loop: 2 mallards, 2 moorhens, 2 robins, 9 blue tits, 5 chaffinch, 7 great tits, 3 long-tailed tits, 1 coal tits, 2 dunnock, 2 greenfinches, 1 wren, 1 great-spotted woodpecker, 2 wood pigeon.

Scrape hide: 8 pochards.

Thurs 5 Feb

Wetland Discovery: 1 bullfinches.

Ramsar & Sand Martin hides: 37 teal, 45 lapwings, 1 goosander, 6 shelducks, 35 snipe, 14 pochard

Waterside walk: 1 song thrush, 10 goldfinch

Scrape hide: 2 shelducks

Reedbeds: 2 coot, 4 moorhen, 4 mandarin ducks, 27 mallards, 1 song thrush, 1 chaffinches, 5 blue tits, 1 great tit, 1 wood pigeons, 2 Egyptians Goose

Long path: 2 goldcrests, 1 song thrush

Woodland Loop: 1 song thrush, 5 long-tailed tits, 3 chaffinches, 1 coal tit, 3 greenfinches, 1 nuthatches.

Arun Riverlife: 3 pochard, 1 ringtail hen harrier.

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