A couple of days of counting! Monday WEBs and Tuesday Swan count.
Monday 8th
The morning saw us at work carrying out this months WEB count over three of the washes. Flooding wasn't complete so areas of land were still visible.
Large numbers of Lapwing were challenging as they were forever on the move! Not many Whooper Swan but good numbers of Greylag and Canada Goose. Amongst the wildfowl the real surprise were the number of Pintail with 266 in our count alone. Wigeon totalled 1863.
Full sightings list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S287807724
Tuesday 9th
Early morning start being out on the Crag Bank by 6.30 am. My area was from the suspension bridge to the railway bridge. The weather was pretty ropey with strong winds and rain showers but as the sun rose it became more settled.
With so much of the washes flooded the swans were spread out and the poor weather made counting difficult. However counted 992 Whooper and 6 Bewick, two of which were youngsters.
After breakfast off to do the arable count covering Prickwillow, Great Fen and the Earith and Sutton. No large flocks but a nice small flock of Whooper near Aldreth which contained six ringed birds. These were two adults:
Adult: White Ring: Z3C: was actually 23C
Adult: Neck Collar (tracker): Leg Ring: Yellow: ZYC: Left Leg
and four Juvenile
Juv: Neck collar (tracker): White Ring: 13B: Left Leg
Female: ringed as a cygnet: Lake Kalfborgarvatn: Iceland: 14-08-2025
Juv: White Ring: 13A: Left Leg
Male: ringed as a cygnet: Lake Kalfborgarvatn: Iceland: 14-08-2025
Juv: White Ring: 12V: Left Leg
Female: ringed as a cygnet: Lake Kalfborgarvatn: Iceland: 14-08-2025
Juv: White Ring: 12X: Left Leg
Male: ringed as a cygnet: Lake Kalfborgarvatn: Iceland: 14-08-2025
All the birds were ringed by Kane Brides, WWT. I am very grateful for the information.
 |
| Adult Whooper with tracker collar |
 |
| Whooper Swans near Aldreth |
Wednesday 10th
Stayed local this morning after so much swan chasing! Walked the river from the station to Pantile and back via The Shades.
A Red Kite was hunting near Viva Theatre and there was a large number of Black-headed Gull on the fields. Nice to find three Greenfinch by the horse field as they seem to be short on the ground recently.
Thursday 11th
Back out to Burwell Fen. Crossing over Tubney Fen I spotted a Green Woodpecker flying across the road. Plenty of Chaffinch on the move and a small flock of Meadow Pipit.
Burwell Fen itself was quiet. Nothing on the bottom pools and although there were a number of different wildfowl on the pool towards Pouts Hall the numbers were not great.
Two Marsh Harrier, both female, were quartering the fen along with a single Red Kite.
Soham Mere and The Whooper Swans
Having purchased an excellent sausage roll from Spinney Abbey butchers, I went to count the Whooper Swans that have been present for a number of days on Soham Mere. Although distant I was able to count 205 Whooper and five Mute Swan, sadly no Bewick.
