Eiders at Whiteford

After Neil Edwards and myslef counted a very respectable 130 Eiders at Whiteford Point yesterday, I decided to go back through Gower Birds and was amazed to find the largest count of this species was 313 in April 1990. Since 1969 there have been 19 years wheen counts have exceeded 100 and so far 2011 ranks 12th down the list of annual maxima.

There seems to be little pattern to the appearance of these larger numbers, although April can be a good month, so it may be well worth a trek out to the point over the coming weeks to see these spectacularly plumaged birds.