Species Account
Extract from Bird Report 2024
An increasing visitor. (Amber list).
Although there were no breeding records, an adult was seen to arrive at Houghton Brook Pools from the nearby gull colony at Luton North Industrial Estates accompanying Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls on 14th July. In August, it was there again on the 4th, with a Herring Gull and two juveniles, and then on the 8th with a Herring Gull.
The first was an adult at Stewartby Lake on 1st January, increasing to three adults there on the 6th. There was a near-adult at Harrowden WM on 11th January, then an adult again at Stewartby Lake on the 13th, followed by two at Grovebury SP on the 24th. One at Meadow Lane GP on 28th January was considered likely to be the same as seen on the 11th at Harrowden WM. In February, there was one at Stewartby Lake and one at Grovebury SP, both on the 3rd, then two, a third winter and an adult, at Stewartby Lake on the 17th, and one at Stotfold on the 24th. There was one record in March, with a second-winter and a third-winter in the roost at Stewartby Lake on the 9th. In April, there were two at Bison Hill on the 12th.
There were three records in June, with one at Rookery North ClP on the 1st, one in Leagrave adjacent to the M1 on the 10th and an adult at Broom South Quarry on the 23rd. From July onwards records increased, with a third-year at Dunstable WTW on 2nd July, one at Grovebury SP on the 6th, followed by three, an adult and two immatures, also there on the 11th. Numbers then quickly increased at Grovebury SP, with 23 there on 21st July and ten on the 23rd before falling to two on the 27th. At the same site there were singles from 5th August until the 15th, before increasing to three on 17th August and then five on 2nd September. There was a series of sightings from Broom South Quarry between mid-July and mid-November. Most counts were in the range of one to five, with those above being six on 17th July, six on 20th September, six on 11th and 12th October, nine on 18th October and six on 26th October. There were regular counts at Stewartby Lake in November and December, with four on 2nd November, then between one and three regularly, until four adults on 30th–31st December. Elsewhere, there was one at Harrowden WM on 26th September, two in the Stotfold/Arlesey area on 5th–6th November and one at Grove (Church Lock) on the Grand Union Canal on 31st December.
