Swans – Ducks

Birds featured on this page are Swans, Geese and Ducks. Several of these species are resident year round, whilst others are present for the winter and some have only been seen when passing through on migration, etc. A selection of images can be seen in the gallery and then the status of each individual species on the park is detailed below that.

Mute Swan  Resident and breeds on most lakes

Bewick’s Swan  Very rare vagrant, now extremely rare with several small and medium size flocks on passage during the 1980’s, three records during the 1990’s, including 20 on 21^st February 1993, 18 on 22^nd March 1996, then a long wait until the family of 3 on 28^th December 2014.

Whooper Swan  Extremely rare vagrant, 3 records of wild birds, 1 over 20^th March 1982, 4 over 31^st December 1996, then a long break until 7 over 10th November 2013. The record of 1 on 7^th & 14^th February 1988 was not proven to be wild.

Snow Goose  Feral birds sometimes visit in flocks, such as 14 from the 13^th to 19^th March 1983, 14 on 27^th February, then 16 on 28^th to 29^th, the most recent flock was 17 on 15^th February 2011.

Tundra Bean Goose  Extremely rare vagrant, 3 confirmed records : Tundra Race – 1 on 13^th January 1983, 3 on 16^th & 17^th March 1987, one unconfirmed report of 2 over 15^th January 1995. Taiga Race – 1 over 8^th December 2010.

Pink-footed Goose  Extremely rare vagrant, 3 records, 1 on 28^th February & 1^st March 1984, 1 on 30^th & 31^st December 1985 and 1 on 13^th March 1994.

White-fronted Goose  Rare vagrant, which was nearly annual until 1987, various records of 1-3 birds, plus small flocks have flown over during migration between November and January, 16 on 5^th December 1982, 61 on 12^th November 1983, 26 on 8^th November 1986, 55 on 1^st January 1987 and another 35 on 12^th January, on the fields behind Lavell’s. The last confirmed record was 2 on the landfill associating with Canada Geese from 13^th to 17^th December 2002.

Greylag Goose  Resident and a few pairs breeds on BSL & Lea Farm G.P. Flocks of over 50 can be seen.

Canada Goose  Resident and breeds on most lakes

Brent Goose  Very rare vagrant, the first record was a flock of 18 over on 12^th March 1983, then 1 with Canada’s 25^th December same year, 1 on 21^st January 1985 on the golf course, 1 on 3^rd January 1986, also on the golf course, 1 on 18^th January 1987, then 3 on the 31^st, 1 staying into February, 1 on 8^th & 15^th November 1989, 1 on 3^rd January 1993, 1 on 17^th February 1994 with the last unconfirmed 15^th December 1996.

Egyptian Goose  Resident and breeds on BSL & Lea Farm G.P. Post breeding numbers can reach nearly 40.

Shelduck  Often seen in February to May, preferring Lea Farm G.P. but also seen on BSL & Sandford. Appeared to become more common from 1998, with birds returning as early as January from 2004, but since 2012 there has been a steady decline in numbers and frequency. It is hoped that providing artificial nest boxes may change this.

Mandarin  Seen mostly along the Loddon, usually between March and July, but can occur any time of year and has bred on the park a handful of times.

Wigeon  Winter visitor, from August to mid April, occurs on all the big lakes and numbers fluctuate, often spiking to over 250 when the medium size lakes of Twyford freeze up. As a grazing duck it has really benefited from Lea Farm G.P. and the nearby landfill, where numbers are often over 300 and reached 1000 in December 2010. Occasionally large groups of up to 80 can appear on Sandford in mid September.

Gadwall  Resident and occasionally breeds in low numbers. Occurs on all lakes, numbers usually exceed 200 each winter, but rarely break 300 even in cold weather. There has been little or no breeding success since 2011, but 1-2 pairs probably still breed locally.

Teal  Common winter visitor from July to April, sometimes 1, or 2 summer. Generally prefers Lavell’s Tern scrape with 50 being an average count, 80 a high one. Now we have Lea Farm G.P. numbers are always over 100 and have exceeded 260 in 2010.

Mallard  Resident and breeds on most lakes, winter brings a significant increase in numbers.

Pintail  Uncommon but annual passage visitor. Can occur on almost any lake, but generally Sandford, or Lea Farm G.P. most often recorded in January, February and March. It has also been recorded in 5 out of 10 Augusts between 2005 and 2015, then numerous September to December records.

Garganey  Uncommon but usually annual passage visitor, singles, or pairs. Mostly occurs on Sandford, Lavell’s or Lea Farm G.P. In March to May, then July to September, but as late as October and even early November.

Shoveler  Annual winter visitor, staying until mid April, often begin returning in July on Sandford, Lavell’s and LFGP, anything above 40 is a good count, with peak numbers approach 70-80, with over 120 in January 2005.

Red-crested Pochard  Very uncommon winter visitor, 1-4 birds between January and March, with some out of season records and sometimes September to December.

Pochard  Common winter visitor numbers around 60-80, rarely over 100 birds, 1-2 sometimes stay until April, then odd birds occur in June and July, but numbers do not start to build up until October.

Ferruginous Duck  Very rare vagrant,  a female on BSL 21^st to 27^th November 1987, then a male 22^nd and 23^rd December 1987, a female 18^th February to the 11^th March 1988,  a male on Sandford for just one day on 2^nd December 2009 and a male found on Sandford 1^st October 2011, moving to WSL and staying until 9^th December.

Tufted Duck  Common resident, breeds on numerous lakes, young appearing in late June and July. Winter numbers build to around 180-200.

Scaup  Rare migrant, usually singles and can stay for weeks, mostly recorded between October and February, but 4 on 11^th November 1985, staying til 16^th December. There have also been 3 August records.

Eider  Extremely rare vagrant, a female 31^st March 1997 on BSL, then a female 21^st April LFGP 2003.

Long Tailed Duck  Extremely rare vagrant, one record 26^th January 1983.

Common Scoter  Very rare migrant, 8 records of 1 or 2 birds, 3 records in March, 1 in May, June, July and the last a female on BSL 10^th August 2015, prior to that a male on BSL 18^th March 2004.

Goldeneye  Annual winter visitor with 16- 20 birds, preferring BSL, they rest on Sandford Lake during sailing activity. Small numbers occur on LFGP and move to and from BSL. Winter birds linger until late March and April, first returning later in October. 2003 a new record of 43 occurred, and counts of 30+ continued until 2006, but not since.

Smew  Quite rare winter visitor, 1-3 birds most frequently recorded on Sandford Lake in January, but sometimes February, March, November and December.

Red Breasted Merganser  Extremely rare vagrant, 4 records, February to March 1979 involving 1-4 birds, 1 on BSL March 23^rd 1984, 4 females over 5^th March 1986, 1 on 20^th January 1990.

Goosander  Uncommon winter visitor, 1-4 most frequently recorded on Sandford Lake and BSL, or over in December and January, but sometimes February, March and November.

Ruddy Duck  Once annual migrant last recorded in December 2012.