Tuesday 19 March 2013

Record Count

Duelling Dunnocks and singing Song Thrushes were the theme of the morning as I walked to West Hartford.


A Short Eared Owl was hovering low over the fire station field as I arrived before perching on a fence post next to the sub station. Oystercatcher numbers were down from the weekend high count of 18 to just three today. Usually when a seo hunts over the marshy field nothing much happens but not today. It was mobbed by gulls and at one point four Skylark.

Also it flushed up 2 Common Snipe, 20+ Teal and best of all a persona record West Hartford count of 16 Gadwall!

Gadwall seem to be increasing everywhere over recent years but 16 especially 14 drakes and 2 ducks would be a good Arcot record never mind on the smallest body of water at West Hartford. They landed briefly on the main pool before heading back to the marshy field.

2 comments:

The Liverbirder said...

Sorry to piss on your fireworks but I had 18 Gadwall on Saturday morning. They lifted out of the marshy bit to the south of the main pool and did hundreds of laps of the area before going back to exactly where they rose from.

Crammy Birder said...

Its ok its still my persoanl record just not the site record