Wildfowl are slowly returning after their breeding season, Greylag Geese are up to 58, Mallard 260, Teal 9, and Gadwall 60. A brood of Tufted Duck has finally appeared, 4 on the river, hopefully they'll evade the Mink.
A count of 46 Moorhen for todays WeBS and the juvenile Water Rail is still showing on Houghton.
Wader numbers have been slowly dwindling through the week (always seems to happen as the WeBS count day approaches), Ringed Plover peaked at 22 at the start of the week and are down to just a single today, Little Ringed Plover at 8 down to 3 today, Lapwing have reached almost 300, just 56 today, Green Sandpipers up to 7 on Houghton, just 2 today. On the plus side a juvenile Avocet is new in today and the good numbers of Common Sandpipers remain with 7 today. A Greenshank has been present all week. A countrywide Whimbrel passage on Thursday sent some Edderthorpe way with 1 down and another flock of 8 flying west, a Curlew was present on Wednesday and a few Black-tailed Godwits were seen.
Peregrines are causing a lot of disturbance at present with at least 3 birds in the area and probably is partially to blame for the decline in waders through the week.
A good flock of large gulls on Thursday morning included 60 Lesser Black-backed, 7 Herring and a near-adult Caspian
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