29 January 2024  What a difference a week makes. I again returned to RHNR and joined a Friends Walk yesterday but this time it was approaching high tide, there was no ice and the sun was out. There were in contrast to a week ago birds everywhere. Three pairs of Stonechats were seen along with five Long-tailed Tits near Cuckoo Corner. At the Barn Pools Wigeon were out grazing and Teal were slumbering. Flatbeach was the star attraction with high tide roosts of the usual waders and an exceptional record number ( 315 according to PJ ) of Pintails, very elegant ducks. They arrived in numbers last Wednesday, no doubt a cold weather movement after the recent cold snap, but from where? maybe even from the near Continent. They were spread out all over Flatbeach but unfortunately were mostly roosing as was the resident Spoonbill. The DC sluice had both a close-by Grey Heron and a Little Egret to amuse the visitors. The Brent Geese are still absent and the Heron was being bombed by angry Herring Gulls.
Context So more about these Pintails in a pseudo historical context, I asked Barry Yates about recorded peak winter numbers over the last thirty years on the reserve. His reply was a maximum of 25 until December 2023, when it rose to 80, and now in his words ” they have gone mad “. JT and AP carried out several counts on Flatbeach today, the 01 February 2023, and recorded an average number of 425 with another flock of 35 coming in off the sea. So all completely unprecedented for the RHNR.