29 December 2021

Weather: Some light rain initially, but clearing quickly. Light west-southwesterly breeze.

Sunset from the Langmere hide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disturbance: Very high levels of disturbance today, with quite a number of off-road vehicles on the drove and several scrambler bikes flushing most birds from Langmere. There were also three walkers walking along the western edge of Langmere and several large dogs running across the heath at the start of my visit.

Damage to Harling Drove from off-road vehicles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Six off-road vehicles along Harling Drove

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sightings from Ringmere:

Mute Swan (2)

Shelduck (4)

Shoveler (8)

Gadwall (30)

Mallard (2)

Teal (37)

Tufted Duck (26)

Coot (32)

Little Grebe (3)

One of the two Mute Swans (HX) appeared to have an injury to its right eye, but was still feeding actively. Numbers of Tufted Ducks continue to increase at Ringmere.

Sightings from Fenmere:

Shoveler (1 - drake)

Moorhen (2)

Coot (2)

Sightings from Langmere:

Greylag Goose (39)

Mute Swan (9)

Egyptian Goose (3)

Shelduck (3)

Shoveler (11)

Gadwall (19)

Wigeon (1 - drake)

Mallard (51)

Teal (76)

Pochard (13 - 11 males and two females)

Tufted Duck (14)

Moorhen (17)

Coot (7)

Black-headed Gull (44)

Herring Gull (7)

Caspian Gull (1 - adult)

Yellow-legged Gull (9 - adults)

Lesser Black-backed Gull (485)

As mentioned above, the gull roost was disturbed by a couple of scrambler bikes just as several hundred more gulls had dropped in, including several more Herring and Yellow-legged Gulls, so the actual peak count of LB's was probably around 600 to 700 birds. The frequent disturbance also made the duck counts quite tricky with birds moving around the site, so are likely to be undercounted. The Greylag Geese dropped in in three seperate flocks (9+17+13) at dusk.

Rest of the reserve:

Pheasant

Woodpigeon

Great Spotted Woodpecker (1)

Green Woodpecker (1)

Jay

Jackdaw

Rook

Carrion Crow

Coal Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Skylark (1 - flying over the Heath)

Long-tailed Tit

Goldcrest

Wren

Treecreeper

Song Thrush

Mistle Thrush (1 - singing by Ringmere)

Redwing

Blackbird

Robin

Dunnock

Pied Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Chaffinch

Linnet

Goldfinch

Siskin

Yellowhammer

Rabbit / Grey Squirrel

One that got away was a likely Marsh Tit in the Scots Pine forest just west of the Langmere hide. The species has been reported by other observers but this would have been my first site record. 48 species in about three hours was a decent total, despite the high levels of disturbance.