With extensive flooding around the reserve at the moment it has been difficult to
access the whole site in order to undertake our monthly monitoring counts.
However, the team made it onto Wheldrake Ings earlier in the week due to a
temporary fall in water levels – waders are no longer needed but wellies are essential.
Large flocks of ducks were present including c4000 Wigeon, 4950 Teal, an
impressive 370 Pintail, 170 Shoveler, 143 Gadwall, 126 Tufted Duck and 67
Pochard.
As well as carrying out an age
assessment of our wintering swans, we’ve also been recording the sex of our
wintering ducks as part of a new project looking at wintering areas, with many
duck populations undergoing rapid changes in distribution and/or numbers. The sex ratio counts also revealed the following (male) totals –
Pochard as expected showed the greatest variation with 86% males, with the
other diving duck species, Tufted Duck, having 69% males. Other sample counts
included Pintail (65%), Shoveler (61%), Gadwall (59%) and Wigeon/Teal showing 52%
and 55% bias respectively. Thanks to our team for doing their bit and adding
data from the valley to the international waterbird census.
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