Saturday 26 May 2018

Shelducks at Newport

For the last couple of weeks there has been a gathering of Shelducks at the bottom of Long Street. This afternoon there were 13, plus another pair at the bridge & the pair with (still) 5 youngsters.
It's normal for there to be as many breeding as non-breeding pairs, with a max of c. 6 pairs (only 2 or 3 of which breed),usually spread out along the estuary, so a flock of this number is quite unusual.
Also unusual is the date of the first brood, a week to 10 days earlier than normal.