Monday 10th
The morning was spent carrying out the WEBs count from Reedbed to Main Hide. Reedbed proved to be very busy. Water has begun to be let onto the wash and this certainly attracted the birds. Lapwing were in large numbers as were Greylag and Canada Goose. Mixed in with the Lapwing were good numbers of Golden Plover with larger flocks passing over. The real bonus were the large number of Ruff feeding in the flooding grass.
Thankfully it was quieter down at the main hide but sadly the number of Whooper Swan with AI had increased and it was sad to see a number of young affected by this terrible disease.
Tuesday 11th
Up at 5 am to be in place on the Crag Bank before dawn for the swan count. I was to cover the area from the Suspension Bridge to the Railway Bridge. Initially I wasn't too hopeful as there is currently very little water on the washes. While walking along the bank with Annie, who seemed to be enjoying her early morning walk, there was very little sign of swan other than one juvenile swimming in the river.
However, on passing Toll Corner things began to look and sound better. Distant smudges of white could be seen on the far side and the call of the swans was increasing.
As the little got better I could clearly make out bevy of swans and was able to start the count. By the end I had a total of 1005 Whooper Swan and 17 Common Crane. Large number of Black-tailed Godwit could be seen swirling around the area.
After a quick coffee warm-up it was off to do the arable count. My usual area was extended to cover Earith to Little Downham and surrounding farmland. The first flock of Whooper Swan was located on the way to Shippea Hill near Glover's Farm. This bevy of swans numbered thirty-four and included twelve young most were in family groups of two with a couple detached from the main herd.
Further on at Padnal Fen (58671, 85615) was another flock of 264 birds with 36 juveniles. It was great to locate a really large flock of Whoopers not too far from home with 410 at Putney Hill Farm, Prickwillow.
The area around Earith and Sutton produced nothing but the next sizeable flock was to be found near Little Downham with 224 feeding on the field.
Burnt Chimney Drove near Welney produced a really good tally of 588 birds across three groups. What was also of interest were the number of Egyptian Goose, Great White Egret and Red Kite that I saw while counting the swans.
By 3.30 I was finished in more ways than you could imagine. Six hours in the car looking out for then counting swans made for a long day! However having a total count of 2525 Whooper Swan was not bad. Sadly I also counted eight dead.
