WeBS

Despite the large number of people milling around the estuary it felt good to be out doing the WeBS count yesterday afternoon, after the April survey was suspended due to Covid-19. Totals included 23 Oystercatchers, 28 Mute Swans, 36 Shelducks, nine Mallards, eight Canada Geese, seven Cormorants, 12 Little Egrets, 70 Herring Gulls, 10 Great Black-backed Gulls, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, a Common Gull (unusual for May) and a Ringed Plover.

After the wintering population has departed, small numbers of Ringed Plovers 

stop by on passage during May.

On 12th May Alan Ford remarkably heard a Cuckoo calling from the middle of Teignmouth. Although regularly recorded only a few miles away, it is an exceptionally scarce bird around the estuary.