It was the monthly WeBS count
today and I left home in petty miserable conditions with a fresh north-east
wind and periods of sleet. I was relieved
when I got to the Volunteer’s Training Centre to learn that John Wright was
involved and had made an early start in South Arm Three, which is an area I
often count but can be difficult in adverse conditions. There was a distinct shortage of counters
today and with Terry Mitcham being on holiday, I suggested that I covered his
area, which is Lagoons Two, Three and Four and then possibly do Lagoon
One. This was agreed and meant that I
would be able to do the count from hides and avoid the worst of the weather.
I drove around to Plover Hide
on Lagoon four and were I was able to count most of the lagoon from. There were over a hundred Mute Swans on the lagoon
with a few Wigeon, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and Coot scattered around and there
was a male and three red-headed Smew just to the left of the hide and two
Oystercatcher on an island.
I checked out Lagoon Three
from Bittern Hide and could see that there was very little on the far side and
therefore went into Shoveler Hide to complete the count. There were far more birds on this lagoon that
included eight Shelduck, eleven Pintail, fifteen Red-crested Pochard, a Little
Egret and a couple of Snipe and there were also Mute Swan, Wigeon, Gadwall,
Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Moorhen, Coot and Lapwing.
Having finished counting from
Shoveler Hide, I moved onto Buzzard Hide but there was very little extra there
and I continued onto Smew Hide to begin counting on Lagoon Two. There was a single Shelduck close to the
hide, a female Goosander towards Lapwing Hide and a Little Egret with and
numbers of Mute Swan, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck
and Coot.
I then made a quick visit to
Sandpiper Hide to complete the count of Lagoon Four but there was little to add
and so I made my way to the Bird Watching centre from where I could complete
the Lagoon Two count.
Having completed Terry’s three
lagoons, I called Lloyd and agreed to count Lagoon One. There was just one Pintail on the lagoon whereas
at the beginning of the moth there had been over fifty and numbers generally
have reduced during the recent rise in water levels and cold spell. There were five Goosanders on the lagoon
along with a single Little Egret and my only Great White Egret of the
morning. Other birds included Mute Swan;
a single Canada Goose, Wigeon; Gadwall; Mallard; Shoveler; Pochard; Tufted
Duck; Moorhen; Coot and Lapwing. As I
was about to count the Lapwings many more arrived and as I scanned through them
I found four Dunlin, which had presumably arrived with the Lapwings and six
Shelduck and additional Wigeon were now on the long island.
After submitting my count
figures and a general chat with the other counters I made my way home.
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