WeBS

Still good numbers of wintering birds around the estuary yesterday morning. Totals included 215 Oystercatchers, 77 Curlew, 54 Redshanks, 27 Dunlin, 10 Turnstones, eight Ringed Plovers, eight Greenshanks, two Common Sandpipers, 15 Little Egrets, 14 Mute Swans, 13 Cormorants, 64 Shelducks, 21 Red-breasted Mergansers and a pair of Wigeon.

First migrants

Plenty of signs of spring around this morning including the start of Lesser Black-backed Gull passage, with 10 present between Passage House and Coombe Cellars. Normally only one or two are present on the estuary through the winter. Also noted during low tide the female Goldeneye, c.55 Common Gulls, two Wigeon, two Greenshanks and two Common Sandpipers.

Goldeneye - Passage House

Velvet Scoters

Two Velvet Scoters were with a small group of six Common Scoter off Spray Point this afternoon in fairly choppy seas. It looked as if there was one female and one 1st winter male, although it was hard to tell due to the distance and conditions.

Also on the sea were 12 Red-throated Divers, one each of Great Northern Diver, Eider, Guillemot and Razorbill, and two Great Crested Grebe.

Racecourse birding

There was little evidence of any cold weather movement around the racecourse and Hackney Marshes on Saturday morning, with the former producing 14 Lapwings, a dozen or so Fieldfares, three Skylarks and a female Stonechat, and the latter 13 Reed Buntings. The best news of the morning was the cutting of the hedge alongside the foot/cycle path, allowing clear views across the racecourse once more.