'A Jack And A Jewel'

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week...

Monday 13th to Sunday 19th January 2014...  



It was another week of mostly heavy blustery showers, strong winds and high tides, not ideal for birding and as a consequence it was rather quiet on the bird front. There were a couple of nice surprises in the week however and today the winds dropped, the showers held off and even the sun came out. Unfortunately though the strong light didn't help with today's WeBS count. 
 

Wildfowl...

The totals for today's January WeBS for wildfowl on The Fleet at Abbotsbury are... Mute Swan 387; Canada Goose 44; Shelduck 11; Gadwall 4; Teal 250; Mallard 263; Pintail 5; Shoveler 39; Pochard 315; Tufted Duck 209; Scaup 6; Goldeneye 12; Red-breasted Merganser 21. So in the prevailing mild and wet conditions numbers are not surprisingly rather low but there were twice as many Teal earlier in the week and the eight Scaup (plus the hybrid) have been present all week (and probably were today but the light hindered our attempts to pick them all out) but note the lack of Wigeon. The only additional species in the week was Brent Goose with twelve 'dark-bellies' settled briefly in the embayment on Monday.

 



Drake (Eurasian) Teal in the water meadow.
The one on the left is a first winter.





One of the eight (Greater) Scaup (a drake) with (Common) Pochards.



Miscellaneous Water Birds...

The totals for today's January WeBS for other water birds on The Fleet at Abbotsbury are... Little Grebe 7; Great Crested Grebe 7; Cormorant 2; Little Egret 3; Grey Heron 1; Moorhen 12; Coot 620; Kingfisher 1. There is not really anything to add to this tally for the week except for the odd Water Rail glimpsed or more frequently heard.

 

Waders...

The totals for today's January WeBS for waders on The Fleet at Abbotsbury are... Golden Plover 1; Lapwing 160; Redshank 16. In addition in the week there was an Oystercatcher and a paltry number of Snipe, making the discovery of my first Jack Snipe of this winter even more surprising.

 

Gulls...

The totals for today's January WeBS for gulls on The Fleet at Abbotsbury are.. Black-headed Gull 300; Mediterranean Gull 14; Common Gull 200; Herring Gull 100; Great Black-backed Gull 5. A pretty representative tally for the week but in addition there were a few Lesser Black-backs and a couple of Kittiwakes... 

 



A rather poor shot of a first winter (Black-legged) Kittiwake
over the Aythya (Diving Duck) flock...

 

And the same  (Black-legged) Kittiwake close in during a feed.
It was so hungry that it was taking wheat!

 

Raptors...

I can't actually recall seeing any Sparrowhawks or Kestrels this week but Buzzards were plentiful as usual, a Peregrine put in at least one appearance but highlight was again the continued presence of the male Marsh Harrier, whilst the escaped Harris's Hawk continues to help keep our rat population down.  

 

Passerines...

Seeing as there are very few Goldcrests around the first Firecrest since early November was a  real gem of a find on a dreary day. The only other passerine worthy of note was Siskin with at least two joining the more regular finches around the Alders. On the few occasions the sun did shine a growing list of early songsters included Nuthatch and Treecreeper two species that are only sporadic breeders at The Swannery, so fingers crossed for the spring!
 



The view from Berry Knapp, looking west during the WeBS this morning.