01/02/18 - January WeBS

Last month our team braved the freezing cold conditions to spend the day counting waterfowl around the valley as part of our January WeBS count, along with making additional age and sex counts for some species as the part of the #ducksexratio. Notable counts were 102 Whooper Swans (30 juveniles), 1086 Greylags, 467 Canadas and 114 Shelduck. The largest number of species present were 12,050 Wigeon with a continuing increase in our Teal numbers, which hit an exceptional 11,220. Other notable totals included 410 Pintail, 190 Shoveler, 160 Gadwall, 136 Tufted Duck and 91 Pochard. Wader numbers on the other hand were fairly low, no doubt suppressed by the extensive flooding limiting feeding opportunities - c200 Dunlin, 71 Ruff, 51 Redshank and 31 Curlew were noted amongst the 3500 Lapwing present. Over the coming weeks we should see a rapid arrival and increase in the numbers of Coot (just 22 on the count) and also the arrival of our first returning Oystercatchers.