MONTHLY DUCK COUNT

The monthly wader and wildfowl count was carried out again by Glyn Evans and his dad along the north side of the Island on Monday 21st. Glyn kindly passed these pictures he took on his walk.
A pair of tufted duck pictured above has been part of a small number seen in recent weeks on the park dyke.

Two or three pairs of little grebe have been feeding along the park dyke as well as a pair on the pond.

At least a thousand wigeon are still feeding on the park fields.

Teal can still be seen on the park fields too, this male pictured above.

A male mallard seen on the park fields.

Two brent geese seen here strutting along the edge of the saltmarsh along the Pyefleet.

An unexpected find for Glyn was an accidental flushing of a jack snipe into the air by the Maydays saltmarsh. After it landed quickly back down, it was pictured with this record shot as it flew off a second time.
A green sandpiper, calling chiffchaff and 31 corn buntings were seen below Bower Hall.

An oystercatcher waiting at the edge of the saltmarsh during the high tide.

A pair of common buzzards have taken up residence at the north end of Shop Lane and this bird was seen calling over the conifer wood.

A male kestrel seen passing overhead - one of the pairs is usually by the oak tree at the back of the park's grazing fields.

Numbers of little egrets are well down during the winter compared with the high autumn counts. There seems just two or three at the park at the moment compared with over 100 last October.


On the nearby Langenhoe army ranges, Richard Hull and Richard Brown reported seeing on Monday 21st a hen harrier, 7 pairs of marsh harrier, 6 pairs of stonechat, 2 singing Cetti's warbler and 27 red-breasted mergansers.