Saturday 3rd March

The thaw started overnight but was too late for many with at least eight Lapwing and Golden Plover found dead on Warren Point alongside birds still clearly struggling. Small groups of both species were across the site with minimum counts of 54 Golden Plover and 45 Lapwing. Thrushes also remained from the freeze with 25 Redwing and 14 Fieldfare present. The conditions had also brought in another cold weather species with six Woodcock around the ponds and wooded areas, the first at the Warren since 2013.  

The melting snow had flooded large areas of the Golf Course with 50+ Dunlin, 15 Grey and a Ringed Plover feeding alongside 200 Brent Geese and more unusually 40 Wigeon and three Pintail. Elsewhere a second winter Glaucous Gull was on the beach, a Great Northern Diver was offshore, four Shoveler were on the Main Pond and counts from the estuary included 92 Bar-tailed Godwit, 56 Shelduck and 27 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Glaucous Gull