I only realised on Tuesday that the WeBS weekend was the weekend just past, as it was very early this month. So I undertook the count round Parc Taf Bargoed on Wednesday evening, the first chance I had. Unfortunately when I arrived at the lakes, it didn't look promising as the local canoe club were just finishing packing up, having spent much of the day out on the water.
Nothing unusual on the count, though it did return good numbers of some species. The 124 Mallard (plus the 4 domestics) is my highest ever August count. Given the poor breeding season this year - I can't think of more than 6 broods of ducklings this year compared to the 10+ of previous years - I wasn't expecting that sort of number. The new BTO website shows this is 10% of all Mallards recorded [so far] on WeBS surveys in East Glamorgan.
Coots produced an all time high of 8. 2 pairs bred, but never got beyond the chicks first couple of days after hatching, the resident Lesser Black-back looking like the most likely cause of the mortality. One pair hatched at least 3 clutches, whilst the second probably matched that number.
Little Grebes returned an August record count of 8. There is, however, no sign of breeding this year. Most years the grebes vacate the lakes in April with a pair returning in June. The growing iris and bulrush clumps usually provide a site for them to build their nest and at least one brood is raised. This year, at least 4 birds were back on the lake by late June, and whilst there was a lot of display and territorial disputes, there was no indication of nest building. The 8 that were present yesterday were all adult birds suggesting that they were all failed breeders this year. Surprisingly, the 8 birds represent over 40% of Little Grebes recorded in this months WeBS in East Glam.
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