An early morning high tide look on the Marshes showed an increasing number of birds. We now have a pair of Goldeneye on the river, along with the Goosanders (1 male and up to 8 red-heads), c80 Teal, a few Snipe heard, and c6+ Water Rails calling. The lone Black-tailed Godwit was roosting with 13 Curlew on Mallard Pond also a Kingfisher present. Two Greenshank and a Lesser Redpoll overhead were nice December records.
A visit to to the estuary produced 64 Golden Plover mixed in with the 330 strong flock of Lapwing, these Golden Plovers often stay on the fields above the estuary and only rarely visit. Eighteen Shelduck have returned from their moulting grounds, and the Wigeon flocks total around 300 birds. The early wintering population of c40 Dunlin and c40 Redshank seem stable numbers for now. Common Gulls, Med Gulls and Greylags are in amongst their relatives -perhaps a count of Geese and Gulls tomorrow...