Bosherston Lakes late this afternoon

An adult pair of adult whooper swans has joined the mixed waterfowl flock on the upper eastern arm. They were noisily trying to establish their rights to open water, but this was not to the liking of a dominant Mute swan cob who chased them all over the place seemingly unhappy about their presence or their constant honking! Earlier in the afternoon, probably the same birds were noted by NT warden John Medwell feeding/resting in a field near Bosherston.

Numbers of tufted duck were quite impressive by this afternoon - 67 in one open water area (possibly a new record number for the lake system, but I still need to check 45 years of winter records). There appeared to be fewer in the morning but judging from observations over the years movements between Bosh Lakes and Pembroke Millponds are probably quite frequent and so may explain variable counts at both sites.

Goosander numbers had certainly reached a new peak for the site though. By this afternoon there were not less than 42 - altogether in a feeding flock.

Bob