Doleham
23rd January 2008, Wednesday
Hundreds of ducks are concentrated on flooded meadows from which areas of rush have been scraped clear. They appear to prefer this habitat to the shallow riverside lagoons which they frequented last winter, and move only small distances if disturbed. With flocks flying back and forth between fields, accurate counts continue to pose a challenge, but there must be 300 Teal, 150 Mallard, 50 Shoveler, and 20 each of Gadwall and Wigeon.
Breeding species which have already returned are Mute Swan, Coot and Lapwing.
Other birds of interest in the area have been Little Egret, Green Sandpiper, Buzzard and Marsh Harrier.
The hundreds of gulls making their way westwards up the valley are almost exclusively Common Gulls, with a very small component of Black-headed and Greater Black-backed Gulls.