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The Cotswold Water Park year 2020.2020 will be remembered as the year of the pandemic, with lockdowns during the spring and then to a lesser extent the winter periods restricting mobility and access for all except those living within CWP itself. The restrictions on holidays and wider travel also encouraged more local residents to visit the area for exercise, dog walking and picnics/barbecues, especially during the summer months – with a consequent increase in disturbance at some lakes during the breeding season, and in littering and habitat damage.Despite this, a good total of 175 bird species were recorded during the year (2020 list added below header). The first winter period was generally mild and wet, and for the first year ever no Smew were recorded in CWP, this scarce Sawbill previously being one of the specialties of the Park, and wintering in small numbers. Perhaps a marker of climate change and the tendency to milder winters? The higher water levels did lead to some good wildfowl counts, especially of Pintail.Spring passage largely coincided with the national lockdown and was notable for prolonged fine sunny weather. Wader habitat was generally rather limited in extent this year, (apart from the Cleveland Lakes scrape) being dependent on the excavation or pumping on new pits, but despite this a good range of species were recorded including Black-winged Stilt, Avocet, Whimbrel and Greenshank. A White Stork also spent a couple of days in the North Meadow/Cleveland area. The passerine highlight was a one-day Savi’s Warbler at Eysey.Some specialist breeders such as Nightingale continued to decline, but reasonable numbers of other totemic species such as Cuckoo arrived, and the commoner Warblers were present in the usual numbers, with Cetti’s in particular seeming numerous, and also recorded in drier habitats. Grasshopper Warblers were heard reeling in several locations. There was the usual gathering of a dozen or more insect-feeding Hobbies in the Lower Mill area when they first arrived, although extra fencing in the estate has made viewing more difficult (sadly more and more fences seem to be springing up all over CWP). Common Terns bred successfully at several localities.Autumn wader passage was a steady trickle but included a couple of Ruff and Jack Snipe. A major surprise was a fly-through Caspian Tern which was not seen again. Another highlight was an all-too-brief Wryneck at Blakehill. The late autumn/ early winter period produced a few surprises, notably a party of 4 Whooper Swans along the Thames, a Slavonian Grebe in eastern CWP and then no less than 3 Ring-necked Ducks at the same Pit, one of which lingered til the end of the year.The changing fortunes of our birds is not all negative – Bitterns were heard booming at several pits, Great White and even Cattle Egrets are now regularly seen along with Littles, and Marsh Harriers have become a much more regular sight.(Of interest, the Birdguides website is no longer logging Great White or Cattle Egrets as rarities from 1 1 21, because of the steady increase in numbers, and therefore reports, of both these species, see news ).Let’s see what 2021 brings.JM 31 12 20 ................
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