Up until today, Buckinghamshire had benefitted from relatively mild conditions and with waterfowl numbers perhaps at average numbers. In the first 14 days, coverage of key sites was 83%, but with numbers considerably up from those in December.
A total of 10,924 birds was counted, including 102 Great Crested Grebes, 37 Dabchicks, 619 Mute Swans, 569 Greylag Geese, 113 Egyptian Geese, 48 Mandarin Ducks, 2,604 Mallards (although this figure includes those at Littleworth Common), 338 Gadwall, 1,684 Tufted Duck, 53 Common Goldeneye, 1,443 Coot, 200 Moorhen, 26 Little Egret and 10 Common Kingfisher; on the debit side, just 247 Teal and 199 Northern Pochard counted.
In terms of individual locations, Willen Lake South Basin came out top with a whopping 952 birds, followed by Gayhurst Motorway Pit with 849, Spade Oak Pit with 707, Linford Nature Reserve with 607, Foxcote Reservoir with 447 and College Lake BBOWT with 442.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Duncan, Robert Norris, Bruce Goldsmith, Alan Stevens and his wife and Simon Pettit for their help with counts
I still have a number of sites that require regular counting (twice a month from September to April) including a few notable sites such as Furzton Lake, Bletchley Blue Lagoon, the Stony Stratford Pits and Hillesden Pools. Please email me on LGREUK400@aol.com if you would like to take part
This is an account of the personal observations of Lee G R Evans (LGRE) in his home county of Buckinghamshire. It also hosts all sightings of interest within the county but only those considered authentic by the author. I am extremely grateful for any images of local birds as well as of any information relating to birds within the boundaries - contact me anytime on 07881 906629 or email LGREUK400@aol.com.