Friday 1 January 2016

Friday 1st January

2016 kicked off with an intense storm blasting a SSE wind all day but despite the harsh conditions, 70 species were recorded today.  Sea-watching was light, the highlight being two Great Skua with one flying past the hide in the estuary.  Also past the seawall flew seven Great Northern Diver, three Red-throated Diver and two diver spp; 37 Kittiwake, c25 Gannet, 20 auks with a few Guillemot and Razorbill picked out; eight Fulmar, six Common Scoter, a flock of Wigeon and a pair of Pintail

Many waders and wildfowl took advantage of the golfer free saturated golf course fairways. There and in the estuary were three-fig counts of Oystercatcher and Dunlin, 256 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 138 Grey Plover, 79 Shelduck, 47 Knot, 36 Teal, 36 Turnstone, 13 Sanderling, 13 Common Snipe, c10 Redshank, six Red-breasted Merganser, five Mediterranean Gull (two at sea), two Ringed Plover, two Curlew, two Bar-tailed Godwit, a Goldeneye, a Greenshank, the resident Slavonian Grebe and another at sea.  Two Sandwich Tern weathering the storm sat on the wader island were unseasonal.

A Little Grebe trilled on the Main Pond, whilst the bushes held two Firecrest, nine Goldfinch, five Goldcrest, two Chiffchaff, two Chaffinch, two Siskin and a Treecreeper.

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