Sightings and news to week ending 15 February 2026
Sunday 15 February
Martin Smith Hide/Robbie Garnett Hide/Withy Bed area
Firecrest feeding in the pathway trees again.
Rushy Hide/Peng Observatory
Two Whooper Swan, 85 Bewick's Swan, female Mandarin, 2 Oystercatcher, 104 Pochard, 41 Pintail and the supporting cast of Tufted Duck, Mallard, Shelduck, Lapwing and Teal.
South Lake
36 Avocet on the scrape with Shoveler, Teal and Gadwall feeding here. Little Grebe on the deep lake plus Pochard and Tufted Duck flocks, Cormorants on the rails, Oystercatcher on north causeway.
Top New Piece
25 Avocet, c60 Wigeon, c40 Teal, 10 Tufted Duck, c50 Canada Geese.
Bottom New Piece
124 Russian White-fronted Geese and 2 Barnacle Geese but flock moved off. From Kingfisher Hide; 2 trilling Little Grebe and a few Teal and Gadwall along the channel.
Tack Piece
Two Spoonbill, 500 Dunlin, 25 Curlew, 140 Golden Plover, a brief Knot with the plovers before being put up by a passing raptor, 30+ Redshank, a few Ruff, 600 Lapwing, 400 Wigeon, Pochard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Shoveler. Two Great Egret to the North.
Saturday 14 February
Decoy Hide
22 Tufted Duck, 3 pairs of Shoveler,
Grounds
Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming behind North America pen
Tin Shed Ground
3 Roe Deer.
Four Score
7 Greylags, 2 Roe Deer buck & doe, 6 Teal, 2 Gadwall, 1 pair of Tufted Duck and Cetti’s warbler singing.
Top New Piece
2 Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier hunting over reeds. 19 Greylags, 170 Teal, 105 Wigeon, 4 Tufted Duck, 4 Shoveler, 30 Shelduck, 6 Canadas, male Reed Bunting feeding in the reeds seen from Zeiss
Tack Piece
2 Spoonbill, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Buzzard, 880 Golden Plover, 3 Little Stint, 8 Ruff, 18 Redshank, 400 Dunlin, 300 Lapwing
Dumbles
1300 Lapwing, 15 Tundra Bean geese, 146 Whitefront + 2 Barnacle, 65 Barnacle+ Ross’s, 300 Dunlin, 110 Golden Plover
Discovery hide
78 Avocet, 126 Shoveler, 90 Black-tailed Godwit, 8 Gadwall, 25 Shelduck,105 Teal,51 Tufted Duck, 42 Pochard, 4 Cormorant ,c20 Lapwing and the Tufted Duck x Red Crested Pochard hybrid
Friday 13 February
Estuary Walkway
2 Firecrest, male Blackcap singing and male bullfinch showing.
Rushy
94 Bewick Swans, 2 Whoopers at 8.15am
Dumbles
15 Bean Geese and 1 Pink footed Goose. Huge numbers of Dunlin, Lapwing and Golden Plover. Redshank, curlew and Ruff the other main wader species.
South Lake
82 Avocet, 89 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 of Oystercatchers, 55 Shoveler, 63 Tufted Duck, 51 Pochard (39m 12f) Black Headed Gull 1 Common and 1 Herring the Gull.
Top New Piece
Spoonbill (flew to the Tack Piece), Little Grebe, Marsh Harrier, 172 Wigeon,338 Teal,5 Tufted, 6 Shoveler, Cettis Warbler and 100c Lapwing seen from Zeiss Hide
Kingfisher Hide
Little Grebe , Water Rail and Treecreeper.
Whitefronts in two flocks, 67 and 94 with the 2 Barnacle Geese and 4 Roe Deer on Bottom New Piece.
Car Park
Flock of c80 Siskin, 20 Goldfinch
Thursday 12 February
Kingfisher Hide
The Bird Feeders were busy with 7 Blue Tit, 3 Great Tit, 4 Chaffinch and 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, whilst elsewhere there was a Jackdaw, 1 Cormorant, 1 Great Egret, 2 Coot, 2 Tufted Duck, 7 Gadwall, 32 Teal, 1 Little Grebe and 4 Mute Swan. Meanwhile on the Four Score there were 43 White-fronted Geese and 1 Marsh Harrier.
Top New Piece
From Zeiss Hide there were 347 Teal, 68 Wigeon, 6 Shoveler, 4 Pintail, 2 Tufted Duck, 1 Gadwall, 9 Shelduck, 4 Mallard, 1 Cormorant, 61 Canada Goose, 73 Lapwing and 2 Herring Gull.
South Lake
From Discovery Hide there were 166 Teal, 28 Gadwall, 6 Shelduck, 71 Shoveler, 29 Tufted Duck, 49 Pochard, 9 Mallard, 50 Avocet, 64 Black-headed Gull, 6 Herring Gull, 9 Cormorant, and 13 Greylag.
Dumbles
Through the rainy conditions 16 Tundra Bean Geese and 1 Pink-footed Goose were spotted from Estuary Tower, White-fronted Geese, 1000 Lapwing, 800 Golden Plover, Redshank and Oystercatcher too. A Sparrowhawk was seen on the summer walkway fence line from the tower in the afternoon.
Tack Piece
From Martin Smith Hide there were 23 male and 5 female Pochard, 63 Black-tailed Godwit, 16 Curlew, 500 Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Teal, Pintail, Ruff, Redshank, Dunlin, Lapwing, Golden Plover, 1 Buzzard and 1 Marsh Harrier.
Car Park
Through the car park Song Thrush, Wren, Robin, Chaffinch and Cetti's Warbler were all heard singing, 12 Cattle Egret were also seen heading out to the fields for the day.
Rushy Lake
Still on the Rushy are 94 Bewick's Swans along with 2 Whooper Swans, 1 Wigeon, 44 Pintail, 72 male and 14 female Pochard, 112 Tufted Duck, 98 Shelduck, 131 Lapwing, 1 female Mandarin and 7 Teal.
Estuary Walkway
A Tawny Owl was heard calling from the Decoy wood.
Wednesday 11 February
South Lake
From Discovery Hide there were 114 Black-tailed Godwit, 67 Avocet, 55 Pochard, 2 Egyptian Geese, 113 Shoveler. Mid-morning there were 40 Cattle Egret and 4 Little Egret. From Hogarth Hide there were 140 Common Gull spotted.
Top New Piece
Up to 8 Cranes were seen from Zeiss Hide through the day.
Kingfisher Hide
Three Little Grebe, 2 Mute Swan, Teal, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and 1 Marsh Harrier over the Bottom New Piece.
Rushy Lake
94 Bewick’s Swans, 4 Mute Swans, 2 Whooper Swans, 23 Mallard, 62 Shelduck, 20 Pintail, 140 Tufted Duck, 46 Pochard, 70 Lapwing, 33 Black-headed Gull and 2 Oystercatcher.
Tack Piece
From Martin Smith Hide there were 1900 Golden Plover, 2700 Lapwing, 450 Dunlin, 8 Pochard, 580 Wigeon, 13 Redshank, 13 Redshank, 10 Ruff, 30 Shoveler, 168 Teal and 10 Tufted Duck, 1 Common Snipe.
Dumbles
Fifteen Tundra Bean Geese were seen from Estuary Tower along with 140 Russian White-fronted Geese, 230 Wigeon, 600 Dunlin, 1 Little Stint, 16 Shoveler, 2 Gadwall and 80 Teal. A Peregrine was sat on the estuary mud mid-morning, Skylark were seen flying and 2 Sanderling were with the Dunlin too.
Tuesday 10 February
Car Park
Green Sandpiper flew out from Rushy and across grounds heading SE early morning. Three singing Song Thrush and a few Siskins over.
Tack Piece
1000s of birds including Ruff, Redshank, Dunlin, Lapwing and Golden Plover, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler and 9 Pintail.
Estuary Tower
Spoonbill on Top Piece and 147 Russian White-fronted, 2 Barnacle, Pink-footed and 16 Tundra Bean Geese on the Dumbles with Greylags, Peregrine + flocks of naturalised Canada and Barnacle Geese, the Ross's Goose, Barnacle x Canada and Snow x Bar-headed Goose hybrids.
Image- Barnacle x Canada Goose hybrid (left) with Barnacle Geese. Often mistaken for a small race Canada or Cackling Canada
South Lake
41 Gadwall, 89 Shoveler, 62 Avocet, Snipe, 6 Black-tailed Godwit, 200 Lapwing, 110 Teal, 52 Pochard, 43 Tufted Duck, 2 Pintail, 12 Coot, 5 Cormorant.
Kingfisher Hide
34 Russian White-fronted Geese in the Four Score with Greylag. 10 Gadwall, 8 Teal along the channel.
Top New Piece
Two Goosander called in for a time. Singing Reed Bunting, 10 Gadwall, 60 Wigeon, 340 Teal, 13 Tufted Duck, 40 Lapwing, adult Spoonbill on the flood.
Rushy Hide/Peng Observatory
Two Whooper Swans, 91 Bewick's Swans, female Mandarin, 38 Pintail, 2 Oystercatcher + Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shelduck, Mallard and Teal.
Martin Smith Hide
Snipe on the pool with 20 Siskins in the Alders. Peregrine in the tall oak on north side of Tack Piece.
South Finger
Two Goldcrest in the hedge above the path.
Spinney
Singing Song Thrush and calling Great Tits.
Monday 9 February
Rushy Hide/Peng Observatory
Two Whooper Swan and 91 Bewick's Swans, drake Tufted Duck x Red-crested Pochard hybrid, 67 drake and 19 duck Pochard, uncounted Lapwing, Mute Swan, Pintail, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Teal, Greylag, Coot and Moorhen.
South Lake
26 Cattle Egret called in before flying out to the fields over the canal, 95 Shoveler, 62 Avocet, 200 Lapwing, c200 Teal, 39 drake and 9 duck Pochard + Tufted Ducks, Cormorants, Black-headed Gulls and Gadwall.
Tack Piece
6000+ birds up and down during regular visits from raptors, Skylark, Starling, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Lapwing, Ruff, Redshank and Lapwing + Wigeon Teal, Pintail and Shoveler on the floods.
Estuary Tower
Two Dark-bellied Brent Geese again on the Dumbles/Dumbles saltmarsh, later with the Russian White-fronted Geese. 16 Tundra Bean and the Pink-footed Goose, 179 Russian White-fronted with 2 Barnacle Geese, 395 Pintail among 1500 Wigeon and Teal on the Severn.
Top New Piece
Spoonbill, Marsh Harrier, Two Shoveler, 5 Tufted Duck, 430 Teal, 60 Wigeon.
Grounds
40 Siskins feeding in the Alder trees on the loopway and 25 Greenfinch. Great spotted Woodpecker drumming in the Spinney Wood.
