Around Llanrhidian fledglings that have appeared during the last week have included a good crop of Little Egrets (Note, the Gowerton colony was abandoned this year, probably due to storm damage). I counted 63+ birds (adults and juvs) going into the Llanrhidian and Landimore roosts on Friday evening. Grey Herons have done well with young seemingly everywhere you look on the marsh. Broods of duck at Llanrhidian have included Mallard (~10 broods), Gadwall (5 broods), Shoveler (1 brood) and Shelduck (4 broods) though only single pairs of Lapwing & Redshank have produced young to fledging. Little Grebes are on their second clutch and are chasing off the young from the first brood, 17+ Moorhen chicks have been counted and Water Rails have been calling from the reedbeds, presumably breeding?
The start of passage has been slow with counts in the upper section of the estuary this week including Common Gull 6, Teal 8, Oystercatcher 369, Grey Plover 5, Black-tailed Godwit 9, Curlew 194 and Green Sandpiper 3. Gulls have been more conspicuous this week, but with so many Black-heads now being produced at Penclacwydd (246 chicks this year counted by Wendell Thomas plus the first successful Med Gull breeding), it’s difficult to detect if there’s been an influx, although counts of 24+ Meds there suggest additional birds have been arriving in number. Pleasing to finally see lots of Swifts feeding on the marsh this past week after what has been a very poor showing.
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