Cress Marsh

A quick visit this lunchtime in extremely windy conditions found 15 species recorded:

Woodpigeon
Green Sandpiper 2 (J)
Mallard 3 (Lagoon)
Buzzard 3
Starling 50
Great Black-backed Gull 4 (H)
Lesser Black-backed Gull 8 (H)
Herring Gull 10 (H)
Black-headed Gull 11 (H)
Skylark 2
Gadwall 11 (B )
Meadow Pipit 4
Pied Wagtail 6
Teal 31 (A)
Peregrine 1 (Field Scrapes - landed on the grass between the scrapes giving excellent views from the hide).

Visited site for an hour on my way home from work late this afternoon. The water levels are extremely high with the lagoon islands being almost completely submerged.

Species recorded (with location as per the site plan drawn up by Joy) were as follows:

Magpie
Green Sandpiper 1 (H)
Pies Wagtail 12
Carrion Crow
White Wagtail 1 (G) first one I have seen at Cress Marsh
Meadow Pipit 1 (J)
Woodpigeon
Mallard 2 (C)
Gadwall 25 (C and Lagoon)
Teal 4 (B )
Lesser Black Back Gull 4 (H)
Herring Gull 20 (H)
Black-headed Gull 100+ (H)
Shoveler 2 (H)
Pheasant
Barn Owl 1 hunting along the ditch in front of the car park.

All sightings have been recorded in the site log book except for the Barn Owl which was seen as I headed back to my car.

Looking on the website for Royal Town Planning Institute, the SH Gateway Mitigation Strategy comes in the category for ‘Excellence in Planning for the Natural Environment ‘, and is commended for ‘securing ecological mitigation by protecting birds in advance of industrial development without delay’. So I would speculate that the unique concept of the Mitigation sites and their planning are of the essence for this award, rather than its ornithological merits.

As Cressy develops it would be interesting to see the data on how the numbers of birds and species which used the land being built on, compares with those using the sites set aside for them. In other words, do the sites really mitigate: that is where success would be IMHO.

Incidentally, I will take up the suggestion to congratulate Rachel and her colleague(s)

I think we must have posted simultaneously, Martin!

This is certainly good news and everybody involved in the project from its initial conception, through construction, to its current management, (not forgetting the hardy birders who record what is there) deserve to be congratulated.

I fully agree with the recent comments and would also like to know from Jim what the awarding body is, and where he found the information about it.

Martin Francis
Leader - RSPB Grimsby Local Group