Swannery Bird News - March 2016

Highlights...

There were no rare vagrants, scarce migrants or 'Swannery first's' yet again this month so it's on with the rest of the news...

Waterfowl...

The first Garganey of the year, a drake, was on Meadow Pool on the 14th...

The drake Garganey with a drake Mallard (March 2016)

The  five Scaup (the adult drake, adult duck and three first winter ducks) were seen virtually daily until the 20th...

The five Scaup (March 2016).
Although easy in the autumn and early winter it became increasingly more difficult to pick out the adult female from the first winter females as their moult progressed.

All five Scaup had departed on the 21st but a first winter female reappeared on the 24th and lingered to the month's end. The two first winter female Long-tailed Ducks were also seen most days until the 27th when they too departed. 

The peak counts of other wildfowl were: 

Mute Swan 480; 
Black Swan 2; 
Canada Goose 30; 
Shelduck 20;
Wigeon  100; 
Gadwall 4; 
Teal 80;
Mallard  140; 
Pintail 70;
Shoveler 10;
Pochard 140; 
Tufted Duck 180;
Red-breasted Merganser 5o.

Drake Shelduck (March 2016)

Drake Gadwall (March 2016)

Waders...

An Avocet was present on the 24th, the first since May 2015 and a Jack Snipe was seen on the 30th. Peak counts of the other waders seen were: 

Oystercatcher 4;
Lapwing 2;
Dunlin 2;
Snipe 10; 
Curlew 2;
Redshank 20.

 Redshanks with a Shelduck (March 2016)

Terns & Gulls...

The first Sandwich Tern of the year was seen on the 25th with another two on the 30th, while earlier in the month a third calendar year Yellow-legged Gull was present on the 1st. Peak counts of the other gulls seen were: 

Black-headed Gull 20;
Mediterranean Gull 10;
Common Gull 50;
Lesser Black-backed Gull 20;
Herring Gull 50;
Great Black-backed Gull 10.

 Adult Mediterranean Gull (March 2016)

 Common Gull, a 3rd calendar year (March 2016)

Other Water Birds... 

Last month's Slavonian Grebe  was seen again intermittently between the 4th and the 28th... 

Above two images the Slavonian Grebe (March 2016)

Peak counts of other water birds were:

Cormorant 9;
Little Egret 36;
Grey Heron 4;
Little Grebe 1; 
Great Crested Grebe 14;  

Water Rail 1; 
Moorhen 10:
Coot 190;
Kingfisher 1.

Raptors...

There were several of sightings of the regular immature Marsh Harrier and one sighting of a Peregrine. The following three species though were noted regularly:   

Sparrowhawk, 
Buzzard,
Kestrel.

Again there were no sightings of Tawny Owls but they were presumably present.

Other Non-Passerines...

There were no noteworthy sightings but the following species were noted in varying numbers: 

Pheasant, 
Feral/Domestic Pigeon, 
Stock Dove, 
Wood Pigeon,
Collared Dove,
Green Woodpecker,
Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Passerines...

New for the year were at least one Bearded Tit on the 29th, two Swallows on the 23rd, a Wheatear also on the 23rd, followed  by another three on the 30th and a Scandinavian Rock Pipit on the 19th. There were no other noteworthy sightings but the following species were noted in varying numbers:

Magpie, 

Jackdaw, 
Rook, 
Carrion Crow, 
Raven, 
Goldcrest,
Blue Tit, 
Great Tit, 
Coal Tit, 
Sky Lark, 
Cetti's Warbler,
Long-tailed Tit, 
Chiffchaff,
Treecreeper, 
Wren, 
Starling, 
Blackbird, 
Song Thrush, 
Mistle Thrush, 
Robin, 
Stonechat, 
House Sparrow, 
Dunnock, 
Grey Wagtail,
Pied Wagtail,
Meadow Pipit,
Chaffinch, 
Greenfinch, 
Goldfinch, 
Siskin,
Linnet,
Bullfinch, 
Reed Bunting.

And that's it for this month...