Flashy Cormorants, flighty Lapwing flocks, and a good dash of raptors in the mix
Some days this week almost hinted at spring, with plenty of birdsong, flowers emerging, and even a little warm sunshine!
Flocks flashing against the big clear skies, reedbeds breathing in the wind, and those sudden, heart-stopping moments of drama caused by the scythe of a raptor.
On 4 February 2026, a tight, beautiful flock of Lapwing (60 birds) pirouetted over the Millennium Wetlands, their green‑black wings flickering like sequins in the half‑light. It was one of those stop‑and‑stare spectacles that makes you grin into your scarf.
From the British Steel Hide, the drama and variety kept on coming. On the Saline Lagoon, about c200 Curlew gathered with their long bills bowed, bodies hunched against the breeze, layers of bronzed calls rolling across the water. Eight Snipe stitched themselves into the rushy edges with needle bills and stripy backs (how do they disappear so completely?), while our regular crew of six Spoonbill swept their elegant spatulate bills through the shallows in perfect formation. Good numbers of Wigeon painted the pool with blonde, russet and grey, and Redshank chimed from the banks. Overhead and along the edges, raptor pulses brought the hush: a ghosting Hen Harrier low over the reeds, and, elsewhere across the reserve, that wonderful Pallid Harrier is still putting in appearances.
Just beside the British Steel Hide, a lively mixed flock of finches and buntings brightened the hedgeline: Reed Bunting, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Redpoll, all soft trills, bud‑cracking, and a confetti of colour against winter thorns.
At the Observatory, the week’s daintiest treat was a single Green Sandpiper on the Freshwater Lagoon, flicking its way along the edges with that crisp white rump flashing as it skipped between puddled pockets. Elsewhere around the paths and willows, a sprinkling of passerines kept things busy: bright Siskin, tail‑pumping Chiffchaff; while overhead the airspace belonged by turns to Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Buzzard, and a red‑ribbon flourish from Red Kite. And yes, the elegant Avocet continued to drop in - always a showstopper.
From the Peter Scott Hide, the numbers told a story all of their own: 94 Snipe on Deep Water Lake, bringing the site total to well over 100 when combined with those on the Saline Lagoon. An awful lot of Snipe - and a brilliant chance to test your eyes on those stripy ghosts as they rocket from cover with that wonderful, zig‑zag dash.
Over on the Dafen Scrapes, the cast was classic and classy: Shoveler (lots of neat green heads and whirring bills), dapper Tufted Duck, shimmering tight‑flock Lapwing, smart Pintail, broad rafts of Wigeon, and a clean‑legged Greenshank patrolling the edges. Add in Little Grebe and Gadwall, plus Cormorant looking extremely colourful just now (that glossy, green‑black sheen and yellow masks really turning heads), and you’ve got a perfect winter palette. Elsewhere across the tides: bursts of Dunlin, neat lines of Teal, and the sense that every pool and scrape hides another surprise.
Featured Photo Credit: Cormorant by Steve Benton
