After yesterdays little trip out to Gloucestershire for Dad to tick the Long tailed Shrike today I was back on the patch walking the four mile circuit around the King George V reservoir.
I counted the Tufted ducks and they totalled at least 1150 but allowing for those diving during the count I'd guess there's somewhere between 1200 and 1250 present. The Coots remain around 400 and today had two Goosander sitting on the causeway with them which is really early for them to return so maybe from more local breeders. Geese numbers continue to pick up and there's now 186 Canada, 64 Egyptian and 2 Greylags present. The Egyptian "High count" has been broken 3 times over my last three visits and I think there's more to come. The loan Mallard on south basin continues to educate her seven youngsters.
On the Gull front the numbers fluctuate and I've had between 140 and 700 Black-headed Gulls over the last couple of weeks of counting them. The Great black backed Gull continues to roost but clears off just after first light and a few Common Gulls are usually to be found if I look for them. The Herring and LBB gull numbers also fluctuate but now include many juveniles.
Today I found two Yellow Wagtails and 15 Common Sandpipers for my trouble and among the 66 species in total but the highlight was without doubt a Raven that decided to stand his ground as I approached simply moving over to let me pass.
onwards and upwards!
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| Mallards |
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| Egyptian Goose |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Yellow Wagtail |
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| Yellow Wagtail with London in the background |
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