Species Account
Extract from Bird Report 2024
Increasing visitor, occurring mainly in winter. (Amber list).
There were records in every month of the year. The first was on 1st January, with an adult and first winter at Stewartby Lake, plus another there on the 6th, followed by two adults on the 13th. Elsewhere, an adult was at Thurleigh Airfield on 7th January, an adult was at Broom GP on the 12th, with one at Grovebury SP on the 27th. In February, singles were at MCP Wetlands NR, Stewartby Lake and Bedford GC on the 3rd, and at Broom GP, Brogborough Tip & Pools and Cranfield on the 11th. Th e first one in breeding plumage was at Fenlake Meadows on the 17th, with another at Stewartby Lake on the 24th. Singles were at Grovebury SP on the 24th and 25th. There was a gap of a few days until an adult was at Herrings Green, Bedford on 11th March, followed by another adult at Woburn Park on the 13th. There was an adult at Harrowden WM on 15th–16th March, and then the last for March was an adult in the Stewartby Lake roost, also on the 16th.
In April, there were two, with one in breeding plumage and the other in winter plumage, at Wyboston Lakes on the 3rd, and then an adult at Priory CP on the 7th. There was then a gap of over a month until the only May record, of one near Manor Farm Lakes on the 19th, and then another month before the only June record, of one at MCP Wetlands NR on the 18th. Juveniles began to turn up towards the end of July, with one at Broom South Quarry on the 24th and then a colour-ringed juvenile (2TL5) at Elstow ClP on the 29th. Records showed a small increase in August: a juvenile was at Felmersham NR on the 2nd, two adults were at Grovebury SP on the 15th, with another there on the 17th, a juvenile was there on the 22nd and an adult on the 25th.
In September, there was a juvenile/first-winter at Broom South Quarry on the 9th and one around the Amazon building near Houghton Regis on the 19th. A first-winter was at Broom South Quarry on 26th October. In November, there was one at Stewartby Lake on the 8th, an adult in summer plumage there on the 28th, and a roosting adult at Broom South Quarry on the 12th. The year then finished with a series of records from Stewartby Lake: an adult and first winter on 7th December, a moulting first-winter on the 30th and then again in the roost on the last day of the year.
