Tuesday 14th March

I did the Port Meadow WeBS survey on Monday. In amongst the dwindling number of winter duck I managed to find a resting drake Graganey tucked up fast asleep, presumably resting during his migrations northwards. 

The full list of birds was:

Garganey
Black-tailed Godwit
Dunlin
4 Oystercatcher
5 Shelduck
5 Redshank
Wigeon 783
Teal 304
Shoveler 30
Mallard 16
Coot 1
Moorhen 5
Swan 2
Greylag Goose 12
Black-headed Gull 117
Lesser Black-backed Gull 3

Today (Tuesday), there was no sign of the Garganey though SHELDUCK numbers had climbed to an impressive 10 birds, the BLACK-TAILED GODWIT was still there and a second DUNLIN had joined the first. There were also 5 OYSTERCATCHERS today. 

The floods are looking pretty good at present and we should be seeing our first Little Ringed Plovers and Sand Martins fairly soon.

Very much just a record shot of the sleeping drake Garganey