Winter Rain & Water Birds

The amount of rain we’ve had in the Parish in 2023 has been exceptional, with the month of October breaking the monthly record, and the final annual total of 55 ½” or almost 1400mm, making 2023 the wettest year I’ve recorded in almost 50yrs. There are still some people who deny there is such a thing as global warming, but look at the evidence just through the annual rainfall figures for Christleton over such a long period of time, but even more so in the past 8 years.

In 1972- 17 ½” 440mm
In 2017- 19 ½ 490mm
In 2018- 31” 775mm
In 2019- 40 ½”1010mm
In 2020- 50 ½ 1260mm
In 2021- 48 ½ 1210mm
In 2022- 40 ½”1010mm
In 2023- 55 ½” 1400mm

*mm figures are rounded down

Given this change in fortune, it means we (The Pit Group) no longer worry about enough water filling the Pit, and our management plans for each year are fewer as a consequence. It’s now general management of the banks and vegetation, and making sure the overflow is clear, that are our priorities. Water from the Pit has already been flowing through the overflow three times this winter, following the five times it did last winter. On the wildlife front, the shoveler ducks are still the species to look out for, but the numbers seem to fluctuate weekly, from a high count of 20+ to four or five today.

The pictures shown this month were taken over the Christmas period at three main sites. Pitsford and Draycote Waters, both huge reservoirs in the south Midlands, and Slimbridge the Wetland and Wildfowl Trust Reserve on the banks of the River Severn in Gloucestershire. The excessive rainfall at all these three sites seems to have attracted large numbers of water birds, culminating in an estimated 30,000 to be seen at Slimbridge. In fact the WWT have recorded over 180 different species of birds there this last year, an incredible total, and the site is well worth a visit at any time of the year. I had planned to visit the site this Christmas in particular to check on the status of visiting wild swans, but more about that next month. The Midlands reservoirs we visited had huge numbers of Little and Great crested grebes present. An estimated 200 little grebes were seen, together with 100 or so Great crested. I’ve not seen these species in such numbers before. There were also good numbers of teal, wigeon, tufted ducks and several delightful golden eye, accompanied by jet black cormorants, colourful male and female goosanders and several brilliantly crested mergansers.

Our first sight on approaching the grounds at Slimbridge were huge numbers of lapwings or peewit’s flying overhead. It’s estimated that they numbered almost 800 that day, and together with 1000+ bar tailed godwits, 1200 dunlin and 2000+ golden plover, that we saw in the grounds, incredible sights. I hope you like the pictures I managed to capture. In special areas of the reserve, avocets were very visible, and it was great to get so close to these wonderful slender up curved billed birds. We also had close up views of ruff, redshank, pintail and smew. We were also lucky to have a very close encounter with a delightful little ringed plover, which posed beautifully for the camera. Later whilst sitting in several of the hides overlooking the marshes and towards the River Severn, we saw hundreds of geese, Canada, greylag, barnacle, brent, Russian white fronted, Icelandic pink feet, and even a snow goose. There were also good numbers of wigeon, teal, and to our delight, we spotted two cranes flying in from the river. There were also estimated to be 300+ Curlew on the estuary, and lots of wild swans feeding on the marshes. My highlight has to be the joint flight of hundreds of lapwing, bar tailed godwits, dunlin and golden plover in the sunny skies above the river. Magical !

The wet weather is clearly a contributory factor to the numbers of waterbirds we’ve seen, but it really has been a very exciting start to the year. DC 2024 PS Latest news is that there are waxwings in our area. Chester Zoo and outside Helsby Grammar School are two places you might see them. They are liable to move however, so you are not guaranteed to see them, but keep your eyes open and you might be lucky. My last sighting was about ten years ago on the canal hedge near The Trooper. There were 50+ of these colourful but irregular visitors from the Arctic, sitting in a tree above my head feeding on berries. I didn’t have my camera!!!