The drake Goldeneye was off Cockwood briefly late afternoon with counts from the estuary including 820 Black and 101 Bar-tailed Godwit, 138 Knot, 85 Grey and 29 Ringed Plover, 21 Sanderling, 18 Avocet, six Greenshank and two Red-breasted Merganser.
Elsewhere the Little Grebe was trilling from the Main Pond, with four Common Scoter, two Great Northern and two Red-throated Diver offshore.
Ringing News: Today turned out to be a big recovery day. Ongoing labour intensive monitoring allows evaluation of both short and long term survivability rates for species like Dunlin, the 64 identified today adding to a burgeoning dataset. Oystercatcher numbers have begun to dwindle, signalling migratory movement, with birds already arriving back on breeding grounds in Scotland. Keeping an eye on those that remain holds added value, one seen and noted today may potentially be found several hundred miles away a few days later, or even the next day as happened in February 2019. Today 27 wintering individuals were noted, one ringed way back in 2004. Adding a bit of glamour and variety, one of the Netherlands ringed Avocet brought sparkle and culminated in a hugely rewarding bout of intensely watching our wintering wader residents.
Other Wildlife: A few more active insects despite the continuing showers. Alexanders continued to attract a few flies including Geomyza tripunctata, Tephritis vespertina and new for the Recording Area, the common Suillia affinis.
Suillia affinis - Alan Keatley
Beetles included Trechus quadristriatus, the weevil Hypera conmaculata and Rosemary Beetle with Buff-tailed Bumblebee and the moth Common Flat-body Agonopterix heracliana on the wing.
Trechus quadristriatus - Alan Keatley 
Hypera conmaculata - Alan Keatley %20070226.JPG)
Common Flat-body Agonopterix heracliana - Alan Keatley
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