Tufted Duck

Numerous winter visitor and regular breeder. Included in 31.1% of BirdTrack lists. (Greenlist).

Confirmed breeding took place at Priory CP (9 broods), Blunham Lakes, Dunstable WTW, Broom East, Myers Farm Potton, Broom South Quarry, Poppy Hill Lakes, Willington GP, Meadow Lane GP and Octagon Farm GP. Possible breeding took place at another ten sites. In the first quarter, peak site counts in excess of 100 were 137 at Grovebury SP and 112 at Brogborough Lake on 1st January, 169 at Rookery North ClP on the 14th, 140 at Stewartby Lake on the 20th and 150 at Chimney Corner South Lake on the 28th. They were followed by 120 at Gadsey Brook on 12th February, 195 at Blunham Lakes on 19th February and 112 at Coronation ClP on 11th March. During April to June, the vast majority of the larger counts came from Priory CP, with a peak there of 98 on 12th May. Elsewhere in this period, the next highest was 53 at Southill Lake on 7th April. Numbers started to build slowly during July, the main concentrations being at Grovebury SP, with 78 on 9th July, 115 on 25th July and then 116 on 8th August, before peaking at 117 on 5th September. Elsewhere, good numbers included 65 at MCP Wetlands NR on 3rd August and 130 at Brogborough Lake on 29th September. Into the last quarter, and high numbers were restricted to just a few sites. There were 61 at Stewartby Lake on 11th October, 97 at Woburn Park on 15th October, 100 at Brogborough Lake on 19th October, and increases to 139 at Woburn Park by 12th November and 230 at Brogborough Lake by 25th November. In December, there were 56 at MCP Wetlands NR on the 14th, 92 at Blunham Lakes on the 16th, 56 at Rookery North ClP on the 18th and 250 at Brogborough Lake on the 23rd, the highest count of those all year. No other site in the last quarter held more than 50.