10/02/16 - February count

With the water slowly starting to recede, last week the team were able to walk the floodbank (from Bubwith Bridge to East Cottingwith), to assess the flood damage and to try and gauge the number of birds currently present across the site - the last WeBS was unfortunately not possible due to the extreme flooding making the site largely inaccessible. Other than a large raft of Pochard at Bubwith (299), the first part of the walk (Bubwith and North Duffield) was rather quiet. Upon reaching Aughton two rafts of Tufted Ducks were viewable (105), which included a single female Scaup. Two female Smew also present there were the find of the day. 

Redshank

A total of 112 Whooper Swans were present on Ellerton, along with 16 Mutes and 250 Greylags. As we reached Thorganby the first Redshank of the day could be heard, with a total of 33 present on the floodbank, also there were a large number of Shelduck – 151. Throughout the day (including a count over North Duffield Ings and Bank Island), a total of 5720 Wigeon and 6580 Teal were had. As always when visiting the hides on the reserve please leave any counts in the log books provided. 

Golden Plover & Lapwing

Full totals across the site on the 03/02/16:

North Duffield Carrs: 
- 49 Mute Swan
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 4 Canada Geese
- 18 Shelduck
- 6 Tufted Duck
- 100 Wigeon
- 350 Lapwing 
- 1 Great Crested Grebe

Bubwith Ings:
 - 4 Mute Swan
- 289 Pochard
- 22 Tufted Duck
- 250 Wigeon
- 4 Gadwall
- 3 Goldeneye

Aughton Ings:
- 12 Mute Swan
- 8 Greylag Geese
- 1 Pink-footed Goose
- 10 Pochard
- 105 Tufted Duck
- 1600 Wigeon
- 2300 Teal
- 30 Pintail
- 1 Shoveler
- 1 Scaup
- 2 Smew
- 1 Coot

Ellerton Ings:
- 16 Mute Swan
- 112 Whooper Swan
- 250 Greylag Geese
- 7 Barnacle Geese
- 4 Shelduck
- 39 Tufted Duck
- 2410 Wigeon
- 2950 Teal
- 1 Scaup
- 110 Golden Plover
- 10 Dunlin

Thorganby Ings:
-  151 Shelduck
- 530 Wigeon
- 230 Teal
- 2 Shoveler 
- 400 Lapwing
- 20 Dunlin
- 4 Heron

East Cottingwith: 
- 6 Mute Swan
- 650 Wigeon
- 150 Teal
- 2000 Lapwing
- 1000 Golden Plover
- 100 Dunlin
- 10 Ruff
- 2 Redshank

North Duffield Ings:
- 650 Wigeon
- 600 Teal
- 20 Pintail
- 650 Lapwing
- 200 Golden Plover
- 5 Dunlin
- 6 Ruff
- 1 Redshank

Bank Island:
- 14 Mute Swan
- 4 Shelduck
- 11 Tufted Duck
- 410 Wigeon
- 200 Teal
- 2 Scaup
- 70 Mallard

- 1 Heron 

Now that the flood water is gradually beginning to recede we are starting to see to what extent the damage is, and how much of a clean-up operation is going to be needed. Upon visiting North Duffield Carrs last week, we found that half of Garganey Hide has now re-appeared, with the remaining half still under water, thus entry to the hide is still not possible – even in wellies! From a distance it appears that the windows are damaged and others are missing, the hide itself will also be left saturated and presumably covered in flood debris. All the noticeboards will need to be removed and re-done, and new seats will need to be made, so unfortunately this hide will remain closed to the public until further notice. The path which leads down to the hide has also been affected, with the wooden boards ripped out of the ground and the substrate washed away. Some sections of the path have unfortunately been left inaccessible for pushchairs and wheelchairs – plans are in place to get it back in use as soon as possible.