01 January 2011

Oxwich marsh

Ongoing habitat restoration by CCW in the marsh at Oxwich has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of waterfowl using the site during the winter, with over 100 each of Wigeon, Teal and Gadwall having been recorded during the recent cold weather. This morning I counted the following: 2 Little Grebe, 9 Greylag, 85 Gadwall, 138 Teal, 1 Pintail, 4 Shoveler, 1 Coot, 19 Moorhen and 18 Water Rails. Finches in the Alders included counts of 80 Siskin, 70 Goldfinch & 7 Lesser Redpoll.
immature male Pintail in rather gloomy conditions this morning 
Nick Edwards (CCW warden) informs me that further habitat improvements are scheduled before work on the new hide is completed, so there may be some disturbance on site over the coming weeks.

3 comments:

Mark Hipkin said...

Nine shot Barry. Looks like its a pretty nice site record too. I think we can all look forward to many more good records as a result of the improvement works there.

Anonymous said...

That's great news that wildfowl numbers are good there now. I recall good numbers of Pochard when I used to visit regularly in the 80s and early 90s and regular Bitterns too!

Anonymous said...

Strangely enough diving ducks have been very scarce so far? Barry