WeBS Count - Passage House

We did our WeBS count today over the not so high, high tide. This meant that the birds were spread out over the estuary. At my end (Passage House), there wasn't that much to be seen, but I did get two new patch year ticks!

Numbers of wintering birds are really dropping off now, with only four Redshank, no Greenshank, 28 Oystercatcher, and only three Curlew (I expect there were more further down the estuary though).

There was a tiny little bit of wader passage, with two Whimbrel and a Grey Plover, the two year ticks. They were both way away (through heat haze) on the other side of the estuary so no photos I'm afraid. It's the first Grey Plover I've seen all winter. We could easily go a year without seeing one. Back at the end of January this year there was a big flock of 280+ Lapwing on the estuary, in which I was hoping to find Grey and Golden Plovers, but annoyingly there were none, so good to get one of the species out the way now at least.

Little Egret numbers are climbing now with 18 between Passage House and Coombe Cellars, and probably a few more down Dale's end. This one was showing off some nice fluffy breeding plumage.