Numbers
of wigeon and teal in the Carew and Cresswell rivers had increased since the
Nov. WeBS count, with 2-300 of each. Shelduck numbers weren't particularly high (88 counted). Wader numbers were similar to the previous month
although there were a few more grey plovers - 22 counted this morning.
Rather than roosting at expected usual sites along the shore, somewhat bizarrely they
seemed to prefer to rest offshore on various mats of flotsam (mostly seaweed
and woody debris). Counting was made a bit easier as they drifted slowly by on
the ebb tide but it looked quite comical!
Noting
Mike Davey’s posting yesterday encouraged quick looks at the Waterloo area of Cosheston Pill and Front Street to see if the black-tailed godwits were still there. 190
were avidly feeding at Cosheston Pill where a very obliging great northern
diver was feeding close to the shore - almost too close to photograph!
Over at
Front Street, 226 black-tailed godwits were busy feeding alongside 17 knot. None
of them seemed too bothered by nearby human activity.
 |
| 15 of the 17 knot feeding with some of the godwits - they were all a bit too close to get into one photo |
Yesterday,
a walk along the increasingly rickety boardwalk below Holyland wood produced a
blackcap and almost certainly 2 firecrests – contact calls were heard at dusk in nearby but separate locations at the same time but they weren’t seen. Earlier, the
probable overwintering Polish black-headed gull (yellow TJ55) was resting
again on its usual raft. This is one of at least 3-4
Polish B-H gulls we’ve observed at the Millpond over the last several years. This one was
ringed as an adult near the Baltic coast in March 2016 and has been noted on a
few occasions at the Millpond during the autumn and winter months since at
least autumn 2017, perhaps earlier.