There were 40 Pochard in total this morning, split roughly 50/50 between the two lakes – my highest count of Pochard here since a count of 37 in Feb 2019. The Tufted numbered about 200. There was 1 drake Wigeon on W lake, calling quite frequently and a couple of Teal skulking along the reed edges. In the snipe enclosure a pair of Bullfinch flew across one of the cut ‘rides’, a new bird for 2021, and there were 2 Green Woodpeckers there too. Loads of Blackbird in the park [I got up to about 20] and there were around 50 Redwing in and around W paddock.
John, did you count the split in numbers, ducks to drakes? There’s some evidence that female Pochards winter further south than males.
Hi Wayne. Sorry only just got notification of your comment. I didn’t do an accurate count but the majority were drakes. Casting my mind back I would say that out of the 40 there were around 8 ducks. Same with the Tufted Ducks -the max there at the mo is about 200 and I’d say 80-90% were drakes.