Sightings and news to week ending 22 February 2026
Above- Whooper Swan over the Tack Piece (MJM)
Sunday 22 February
Singing Blackcap near to the Rushy Hide. The 14 Kittiwake were over the Severn on the ebb tide.
WeBS Count
| Canada Goose | 292 | ||
| Barnacle Goose | 148 | ||
| White-fronted Goose (European - albifrons) | 134 | Low count, some hidden in the road fields. | |
| Mute Swan | 135 | ||
| Bewick's Swan | 85 | A few likely to have departed to the fields early. | |
| Whooper Swan | 2 | ||
| Egyptian Goose | 1 | ||
| Shelduck | 226 | ||
| Mandarin Duck | 1 | Rushy | |
| Shoveler | 139 | ||
| Gadwall | 63 | ||
| Wigeon | 1478 | ||
| Mallard | 426 | ||
| Pintail | 196 | ||
| Teal | 1174 | ||
| Pochard | 132 | ||
| Tufted Duck | 311 | ||
| Goldeneye | 1 | drake on South Lake | |
| Little Grebe | 8 | ||
| Grey Heron | 5 | ||
| Little Egret | 10 | ||
| Cormorant | 13 | ||
| Water Rail | 9 | ||
| Moorhen | 66 | ||
| Coot | 81 | ||
| Oystercatcher | 16 | ||
| Avocet | 99 | One on estuary, 98 South Lake. | |
| Lapwing | 1213 | ||
| Golden Plover | 1806 | All on Tack Piece. | |
| Ringed Plover | 1 | Tack Piece | |
| Curlew | 98 | ||
| Black-tailed Godwit | 72 | ||
| Ruff | 10 | ||
| Sanderling | 1 | Dumbles over high tide | |
| Dunlin | 1255 | ||
| Little Stint | 3 | ||
| Redshank | 30 | ||
| Black-headed Gull | 207 | ||
| Common Gull | 330 | ||
| Great Black-backed Gull | 12 | ||
| Herring Gull | 35 | ||
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 5 | ||
| Ross's Goose | 1 | long staying over summering feral bird | |
| Hybrid goose | 3 | Snow x Bar-headed, Barnacle x Canada, Canada x Greylag | |
| Black Swan | 1 | ||
| Spoonbill | 1 | Tack Piece and Rushy. | |
| Cattle Egret | 10 | ||
| Great White Egret | 2 | ||
| Crane | 6 | ||
| Kittiwake | 14 |
Saturday 21 February
Decoy
1 Great Egret, 5 Shoveler, 20 Tufted Duck, 1 Greylag Goose
Tin shed Ground
3 Roe Deer.
Kingfisher Hide
12 Teal in channel, pair Stonechat in hedge, 2 Roe Deer on Bottom New Piece.
Zeiss Hide
340 Teal, 112 Wigeon, 6 Gadwall, 2 Tufted Duck, 17 Shelduck, 11 Lapwing, 4 Shoveler, 30 Canadas, 2 Greylag Geese, Reed Bunting singing
Tack Piece
720 Lapwing, 250+ Golden Plover, 11 Ruff, 6 Redshank, 2 Dunlin, 2 Oystercatcher, 1030 Wigeon, 100+ Teal, 18 Tufted Duck, singles of Spoonbill, Pochard, Pintail, Marsh Harrier, Pied Wagtail seen from Robbie Garnett Hide
Dumbles
2000+ Golden Plover, 1000+ Lapwing, 800+ Dunlin, 7 Oystercatcher, 470 Wigeon, 63 Teal, 6 Shoveler, 169 Barnacle Goose, 11 Greater Black-backed Gull, singles of Little Stint, 3 Sanderling Peregrine Falcon, Pintail, Buzzard, Ross’s Goose, Cetti’s Warbler seen from Estuary Tower
South Lake
96 Avocet, 59 Black tailed Godwit, 2 Oystercatcher, 80 Shoveler, 136 Teal, 10 Cormorant, 19 Tufted Duck, Pochard 43 males 12 females
Friday 20 February
Dumbles Scrape
Male Garganey, Spoonbill, Sanderling, 58 Teal, 2 Little Stint, 399 Wigeon, 1 Redshank, 4 Shoveler
Dumbles
Merlin and Peregrine hunting over the Dumbles and the tack piece. 28 Curlew, 4 White Fronts, 145 Barnacle geese + Ross’s, 3 Grey Plover, flock of Wigeon and Pintail on river.
Pillbox Pool
12 Wigeon, 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Oystercatcher.
Long Ground Pool
18 Shoveler, 30 Tufted Duck.
South Lake
81 Avocet, 52 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Dunlin, 81 Shoveler, 65 Pochard (57m 8f), 52 Tufted, 150c Black Head Gull and 15 Common Gull make up the majority of species but 5 Herring of various ages
Zeiss Hide.
77 Teal, 110 Wigeon, 33 Shelduck, 5 Tufted, 6 Gadwall. A Reed Bunting, Cettis warbler, and Lapwing and Dunlin sheltering from brisk wind in grass
South Finger and Kingfisher Hide
Reed Bunting, pair of Treecreeper, 2 Cettis warbler, Little Grebe, Buzzard, a large number of mobile Dunlin and Lapwing in long grass. 6 Roe Deer
Tack Piece
1 Spoonbill, 1 Bewick’s swan, 54 Shelduck, 700+ Wigeon, 20 Redshank, 2 Ruff, 31 White Fronts, 5 Curlew, Unsettled flock of lapwing, Golden Plover & Dunlin, 200+ Teal, 1 Snipe
Thursday 19 February
South Lake
From Discovery Hide there were 70 Avocet, 46 Black-tailed Godwit, Teal, 61 Shoveler, 62 male and 11 female Pochard.
Top New Piece
From Zeiss Hide it was quite blustery but 21 Shelduck, 86 Teal, 23 Wigeon and Canada Geese were sheltered on the edged on the scrape.
Grounds
One Great Egret through the matrix, it then moved on the the Canoe Trail.
Kingfisher Hide
On the water there were 10 Teal, 2 Mute swan, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Tufted Duck and on the Bottom New Piece there were 153 Dunlin, 184 Lapwing and 105 White-fronted Geese.
Estuary Walkway
Redwing, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and 20 Siskin.
Dumbles
From Estuary Tower there was 1 Peregrine, 1 Merlin, 500 Lapwing, 38 Wigeon, 1 Buzzard, 85 Teal, 6 Shoveler, 2 Oystercatcher, 150 Golden Plover, 4 Sanderling, 5 Great Black-backed Gull, 1 Little Stint, 35 Curlew, Wigeon and Teal were floating on the incoming tide.
Tack Piece
From Robbie Garnett Hide there were 984 Wigeon, 2 Oystercatcher, 250 Dunlin, 25 Curlew, 8 Redshank, 44 Golden Plover, 220 Lapwing and 1 Goshawk.
Rushy Lake
First thing this morning there were 89 Bewick's Swan, 2 Whooper Swan, 139 Tufted Duck, 44 male, 9 female Pochard, 41 Pintail, 88 Shelduck, 1 Wigeon and 1 female Mandarin Duck.
Early afternoon a Spoonbill visited the Tack Piece and it was later seen feeding on the Rushy.
Wednesday 18 February
Estuary Walkway
There was a Treecreeper spotted throughout the day in the trees outside Stephen Kirk Hide, Long-tailed Tits too.
Tack Piece
From Robbie Garnett Hide there were 380 Dunlin, 3 Sanderling, 3 Little Stint, 1 Spoonbill, Marsh Harrier overhead, 5 Ruff, 6 Curlew and 1 Ringed Plover.
Dumbles
From the Estuary Tower there were 33 Curlew, 4 Cranes, Evie with 3 unringed birds, 300 Dunlin, 2 Oystercatcher, Peregrine and Marsh Harrier, Pintail, Wigeon and Teal on the River.
Kingfisher Hide
In the Bottom New Piece there were174 White-fronted Geese, 200 Lapwing and 60 Dunlin whilst on the water there were 2 Little Grebe.
Top New Piece
From Zeiss Hide there were 116 Wigeon, 48 Shoveler, 115 Lapwing, 56 Teal, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Great Egret.
South Lake
Looking from Discovery Hide there were 48 Dunlin, 3 Ruff, 250 Lapwing, 48 Black-tailed Godwit, 72 Shoveler, 62 Teal, 72 Avocet, 151 Tufted Duck, 32 Pochard, 15 Gadwall and 1 Little Grebe.
Tuesday 17 February
Estuary Tower
16 Tundra Bean and Pink-footed Goose but flushed by loud noise and shotguns going off far side of estuary, 190 Lapwing and 500 Dunlin on the Dumbles, 15 Russian White-fronted Geese Lower Dumbles, 1500+ ducks on the Severn (Wigeon, Teal, Pintail) with more on the scrape. Fewer Lapwing on site with large scale departures, 2 Little Stint and Ringed Plover on Tack Piece (latter also visited Dumbles foreshore) with 400 Dunlin on the Tack Piece, 200 Golden Plover, 7 Ruff, 375 Lapwing, 20 Redshank, a few Curlew, 26 R. White-fronted Geese, 100s Teal and Wigeon.
Some of the Tundra Bean Geese arriving with the Pink-footed Goose (MJM).
South Lake
70 Avocet and 48 Black-tailed Godwit, pair of Little Grebe displaying, Tufted Ducks, Pochards, Teal, Gadwall and Shoveler.
Rushy
Two Whooper Swans with 85 Bewick's Swans.
Tack Piece
Spoonbill roosting opposite Robbie Garnett Hide.
Russian White-fronted Geese flying past the Estuary Tower (MJM).
Monday 16 February
South Lake
69 Avocet and 70 Black-tailed Godwit on the scrape, most of the dabbling ducks (Shoveler/Teal) are in the duck marsh sheltered from the wind, deep lake has a few dozen Pochard and Tufted Duck and 12 Gadwall, 6 Cormorants.
Tack Piece
Two Spoonbills early morning but flew off to Top and Bottom New Piece for a time, returned later but struggled to stand in the gale. Three Marsh Harrier over fields to north, 9 Ruff, 30 Redshank, 100s Golden Plover, Lapwing and Dunlin but not settling for long due to a hunting Peregrine. 100s Wigeon and Teal with a few Pintail and Shoveler.
Rushy Hide/Peng Observatory
85 Bewick's Swans and 2 Whooper Swans early morning but former began moving out to the reserve to feed, female Mandarin, flocks of Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shelduck and Mallard.
Grounds
Siskin and Goldfinch flock roaming the Alder trees.
Estuary Tower
Two Raven on the foreshore. Dumbles scrape busy with Teal, Shoveler and Wigeon, 52 Bewick's Swans now on the Dumbles with flocks of Golden Plover, Lapwing and Dunlin. 70 Wigeon on Pill Box Pool.
Spinney Wood
Singing Treecreeper on territory.
