Many observers have been doing WinGS in the Milford Haven Waterway/Cleddau estuary this week, taking advantage of the finer weather.
Four counters (Bob, Annie, Caroline Pickett and David Ord) covered the long stretch of Daugleddau between Landshipping and Garron Pill/Lawrenny on Tue 1 Oct. The Sprinkle Pill had a nice roost, with David counting just under 1,300 Black-headed Gullsit’s over 200 Lesser Black-backed Gull, four Common Gulls and a small number of Herring Gulls. David also reported that last night 3 Red Kites disturbed the birds there, but they settled down again.
At the end of the Garron Pill, the gulls that first lay in the water at the Pill included 200+ LBBG, a gradual build-up of a few hundred BHG and a small number of HG. At dusk and just after, all the BHGs started up the channel, passing Caroline’s watch-point at the Llangwm Ferry crossing, apparently heading in the direction of Sprinkle Pill. Just before dusk, Caroline spotted a small number of BHG apparently heading for Llangwm Pill. Probably are they taking the overland route, perhaps towards Milford Haven? All bar 32 LBBGs moved into the channel from Garron Pill, but somewhat later than BHGs. A few Herring Gulls also appeared to be staying at Garron.
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| The WinGS Daugleddau section |
In total there may have been at least c.1,500 BHGs and c.400 LBBGs roosting in the Daugleddau section, with a further c.500 hundred unidentified gulls watched by Annie from her observation point at Landshipping. These gulls drifted away down-stream at low tide from the Western Cleddau zone as it is quite dark.
Before dusk, the Osprey circled Lawrenny Wood and probably took root there, probably coming from the direction of Carew/Cresswell. It seems that the BHGs were particularly frightened and may have influenced (or accelerated) their departure from the current.
On 2 October Annie and I did a WinGS survey of the Carew/Crewell system; no gull roosts there and no sign of an osprey either!
Last night, we went down to Martello Tower, near Pembroke Dockyard to count roosting gulls on the Milford Haven Waterway between there and about Wear Point across the channel. We counted anyway 2,200 BHGs (a similar total to the one we had for January WinGS). It was too dark to see at 19:20hrs when we left, but the gulls were still flying, so our numbers were at an absolute minimum.
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| Black-headed gull numbers begin to build hours before dusk on Front Street. A few may have roosted near it, but most probably joined the main roost just south of the Dockyard |
We did not see any obvious Mediterranean Gulls on the roost, nor any Common Gulls. About 25 HGs have contacted BHGs. Most of the HGs (at least a few hundred or so) and a small number of LBBGs flew down the channel to proceed to another location. On Monday evening this week, Jane Hodges, from Milford Marina-side (but no gulls live there) observed c.400 HG and several LBBGs appearing to land on the Valero jetty, where perhaps the some of last night’s birds may have gone too.
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| A beautiful industrial sunset over Valero is stunning |
