After a couple of mundane visits with very little change, Chris Lane discovered 3 Bewick's Swans on the main pit at around 11.30am on Thursday. Thankfully I managed to get down to take some record shots of the birds.
Originally we thought they may have been on their way to Slimbridge however I checked this with Slimbridge Research Assistant, Steve Heaven, who confirmed he didn't recognise any of the three birds.
Bewick's Swans populations show to be in a huge decline.Those from arctic Russia have seen their population fall to just 18,000 from 29,000 between 1995 and 2010. Slimbridge are undertaking a research project to try and discover why this species are struggling so much. Part of this project is "Flight of the Swans" during which a member of the team is flying the same migration path as the Bewick's. You can follow the updates on this link.
The birds flew south after becoming unsettled by the flock of Greylags & Canada Geese who were themselves jumpy from the local shoot. The Bewick's became our 141st species of 2016 & only the second record at the site.
Other midweek sighting highlights included 2 Green Sandpipers, Adult Yellow-legged Gull, 10 Common Gull, 29 Lapwing and 5 Wigeon.
I visited twice over the weekend. On Saturday I met a photographer from Stratford called Mark Clarke who was visiting the site for the first time. A few flash pool has emerged close to the main bund, it will be interesting to see whether this becomes permenant or just caused by the midweek heavy rain.
There were huge numbers of Redwings & Fieldfares moving through on both days. The best bird was a Jack Snipe that was in the marshy area by the main pit bund. Other weekend counts included 17 Mute Swan, 18 Shoveler, 37 Gadwall, 5 Pochard, 49 Tufties, 85 Teal, 69 Lapwing, 3 Green Sandpiper, Green Woodpecker, 465 Canada geese, 220 Greylag, 18 Cormorant, 2 Raven, Kestrel, Buzzard, 2 Sparrowhawk 15 Goldcrest, 30 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Coal Tit and a Treecreeper, seen on both days.
Many thanks to Jon & Chris for their sightings.
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