Water Rail International threshold: ? Rallus aquaticus Great Britain threshold: ?† † All-Ireland threshold: ? GB max: 420 Nov NI max: 3 Nov Water Rails are notoriously difficult to The highest count from a single site was monitor, due to their preference for dense recorded in January, 45 at the Somerset vegetation. The UK breeding population is Levels, which was about average for this site. thought to be largely resident, with the This was closely followed by an exceptional wintering population bolstered by birds from March count at North Warren and Thorpeness continental Europe. Mere, which was over three times higher than The November peak of 422 birds is a the site average. Northern Ireland peaks considerable underestimate of birds actually remain in single figures the highest single present on WeBS sites, although numbers at counts being two at Belfast Lough and Upper the top sites remain consistent between years. Lough Erne. 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 Mon Mean Sites with mean peak counts of 10 or more birds in Great Britain † Somerset Levels 34 43 45 (45) 45 Jan 42 Grouville Marsh (40) (30) 30 25 20 Nov 29 Stodmarsh & Collards Lagoon 41 25 27 28 20 Sep 28 Rye Harbour and Pett Level 40 31 13 8 16 Nov 22 Kenfig Pool 2 7 30 39 27 Nov 21 Middle Yare Marshes (0) (4) 23 17 18 Nov 19 21 21 Kenfig NNR 24 12 18 Lee Valley Gravel Pits 22 18 18 18 12 Dec 18 Marston Sewage Treatment Wks 18 18 Poole Harbour 16 15 15 24 (10) Sep 18 Southampton Water 16 13 20 18 (7) Feb 17 Fleet Pond 20 25 6 10 Dec 15 Leighton Moss 15 15 Longueville Marsh (10) (10) 15 15 15 Nov 15 North Norfolk Coast 10 13 22 (10) (10) Dec 15 13 North Warren / Thorpeness Mere 4 4 2 44 Mar 14 Thames Estuary (7) (6) 12 21 8 Dec 14 Burry Inlet 9 9 16 10 18 Dec 12 11 Dee Estuary (England/Wales) (7) 16 8 13 (5) Oct 12 Ingrebourne Valley 10 14 10 14 12 Dec 12 Kilconquhar Loch 14 15 8 14 11 Dec 12 Chichester Harbour 8 12 14 16 6 Dec 11 Drakelow Gravel Pit 9 7 11 20 6 Nov 11 Brent Reservoir 22 7 6 7 10 Jan 10 Doxey Marshes SSSI 11 8 8 (14) 7 Sep 10 Llangorse Lake 8 8 10 15 7 Jan 10 Loe Pool (8) 4 1 19 (16) Feb 10 † as no British or All-Ireland thresholds have been set a qualifying level of 10 has been chosen to select sites for presentation in this report Spotted Crake Scarce Porzana porzana GB max: 1 Oct NI max: 0 The only record this year was of one at Inner (England/Wales) in October. Marsh Farm on the Dee Estuary Corncrake Scarce Crex crex GB max: 1 Aug NI max: 0 The single bird found at Doxey Marshes in August was the first ever record for WeBS. 113 Moorhen International threshold: 20,000 Gallinula chloropus Great Britain threshold: 7,500 † All-Ireland threshold: ?† GB max: 14,728 Oct NI max: 258 Oct Moorhens are widely distributed and occur accordingly national totals exceeded 10,000 in throughout a range of wetland habitats, which Britain between September and March and means that the proportion of birds recorded by reached around 200 in Northern Ireland during WeBS is limited. During the five years up to the same period. 2003/04 36 sites in Britain held mean counts in In line with recent years’ peaks, numbers at excess of 100 birds. Although the UK breeding the Severn Estuary continued to fall. In general population is by and large sedentary, birds peak counts across a number of key sites were from Iceland and northwest Europe below average. supplement numbers during winter and 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 Mon Mean Sites with mean peak counts of 100 or more birds in Great Britain † Severn Estuary 679 735 557 476 443 Feb 578 WWT Martin Mere 570 510 485 490 440 Sep 499 Lower Derwent Ings 419 419 Thames Estuary (269) (268) 345 448 (317) Sep 397 Somerset Levels 407 310 308 322 276 Feb 325 North Norfolk Coast 441 309 334 243 280 Jan 321 Lee Valley Gravel Pits 278 315 357 312 340 Nov 320 Durham Coast 307 240 225 160 (0) 233 Pitsford Reservoir 172 175 267 209 326 Oct 230 Rutland Water 229 252 211 189 191 Oct 214 Bewl Water 122 230 200 254 215 Jul 204 Burry Inlet 213 196 209 175 169 Mar 192 Arun Valley (240) 202 148 172 163 Aug 185 Chew Valley Lake 130 185 165 105 245 Sep 166 Dee Estuary (England/Wales) (120) 134 199 (116) 121 Jan 151 Colne Valley Gravel Pits (66) (51) (149) (110) (58) Sep (149) Chichester Gravel Pits 138 132 157 149 161 Feb 147 R. Avon: Salisbury-Fordingbridge (55) (69) (79) (56) (143) Sep (143) 11 11 11 11 11 Orwell Estuary 157 160 117 100 164 Feb 140 Humber Estuary 64 87 101 215 224 Jan 138 Sutton and Lound Gravel Pits 136 (160) 118 138 Barn Elms Reservoirs 62 95 170 131 137 Aug 119 Marston Sewage Treatment Wks 118 118 Blackwater Estuary 138 96 (75) (51) (54) Nov 117 13 Ouse Washes 141 206 61 70 95 Nov 115 Tring Reservoirs 90 149 110 106 115 Jan 114 River Wye - Bakewell to Haddon 114 101 89 131 126 Dec 112 Rye Harbour and Pett Level 162 99 107 71 116 Jan 111 Thanet Coast 83 87 95 123 169 Dec 111 Hamford Water 82 68 (72) 134 (156) Dec 110 Fairburn Ings 113 (115) 86 73 154 Dec 108 Stodmarsh & Collards Lagoon 136 152 105 78 70 Sep 108 Grouville Marsh (140) (120) 120 122 35 Nov 107 Ingrebourne Valley 107 76 122 116 116 Feb 107 Ribble Estuary 141 (59) (74) (94) 73 Mar 107 Southampton Water (73) (102) (81) 81 125 Jan 103 Sites with mean peak counts of 30 or more birds in Northern Ireland † Loughs Neagh and Beg 124 183 374 155 160 Sep 199 Upper Lough Erne 67 59 60 46 (32) Feb 58 Broad Water Canal 55 19 69 50 Oct 48 11 Belfast Lough 46 44 47 62 27 Oct 45 Upper Quoile River 38 (9) (27) (4) (21) Jan 38 † as few sites exceed the British threshold and no All-Ireland threshold has been set qualifying levels of 100 and 30 have been chosen to select sites, in Great Britain and Northern Ireland respectivley, for presentation in this report 114 Coot International threshold: 17,500 Fulica atra Great Britain threshold: 1,730 All-Ireland threshold: 250 GB max: 106,969 Nov S M L NI max: 4,841 Dec GB change: o o o NI change: - o o Annual Index 2003/04 mean Previous five-year mean Trend Range 1998/99 - 2002/03 Figure 37.a, Annual indices & trend for Coot for GB Figure 37.b, Monthly indices for Coot for GB (above) (above) & NI (below). & NI (below). Within the UK Coots favour large bodies of witnessed throughout the year with monthly fresh water, although have a widespread indices each falling below the range of the distribution on smaller ponds and rivers. Coots previous five years. Much the same pattern gather to moult during early autumn, which is was true in Britain, indices being below well reflected by the monthly WeBS indices, average throughout the year and below the which increase in August and September. five-year minima from October onwards. Typically, peak numbers occur in subsequent Eighteen British sites held numbers months and in 2003/04 British totals peaked in exceeding the national threshold, two more November, a month earlier than in Northern than previously. These sites were almost Ireland. The timing of winter peaks can be exclusively in the southern half of England attributed to the influx of wintering birds from with only Loch Leven outside this area. northwest Europe, which can increase further Furthermore, with the exception of the Fleet in response to cold weather. and Wey, key sites consisted of reservoirs, National indices for both Britain and gravel pits and natural inland wetlands. Trends Northern Ireland have suffered declines, varied between British sites with five key mirroring the fall in the national totals of both. locations exceeding their means and six below Although this corresponds to only a 10% fall by more than 10%. Similar mixed fortunes in the British index since its highest ever peak were evident in Northern Ireland, where the in 2001/02, the Northern Irish index has halved mean peak of Upper Lough Erne rose and that in only three years and is currently at its lowest of Lower Lough Erne fell, to below the ever mainly due to declines at Loughs Neagh national qualifying threshold. and Beg. This dramatic decrease was 115 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 Mon Mean Sites of national importance in Great Britain Abberton Reservoir 9,673 11,645 7,610 6,885 6,166 Aug 8,396 Cotswold Water Park (West) 3,980 (3,806) 4,161 (2,528) 4,042 Dec 4,061 Rutland Water 3,759 3,375 3,283 3,969 4,021 Nov 3,681 Lee Valley Gravel Pits 3,559 2,751 3,245 3,250 3,213 Dec 3,204 Hanningfield Reservoir 2,809 4,282 1,369 3,426 3,791 Nov 3,135 Hickling Broad 4,993 1,021 3,007 Cheddar Reservoir 2,500 3,410 2,950 2,975 3,100 Dec 2,987 Chew Valley Lake 1,980 3,500 2,360 3,715 3,285 Aug 2,968 Fleet and Wey 1,862 2,346 3,418 2,353 (2,923) Dec 2,580 Cotswold Water Park (East) 2,944 2,227 2,634 2,365 2,296 Dec 2,493 Loch Leven 2,340 2,100 1,818 3,205 2,650 13 Sep 2,423 Ouse Washes 3,803 2,062 13 2,488 13 1,349 2,039 Mar 2,348 Pitsford Reservoir 2,415 2,331 2,746 1,949 1,823 Nov 2,253 Lower Windrush Valley GPs 2,188 2,274 1,720 2,016 2,341 Dec 2,108 Middle Tame Valley Gravel Pits (1,368) 1,674 (2,106) (1,284) (559) Nov 1,890 Alton Water 3,090 655 2,536 2,491 649 Oct 1,884 Little Paxton Gravel Pits 1,235 3,014 1,679 1,831 1,334 Nov 1,819 Dungeness Gravel Pits 2,085 1,564 1,573 1,528 1,943 Aug 1,739 Sites of all-Ireland importance in Northern Ireland Loughs Neagh and Beg 7,307 6,579 2,535 4,269 4,124 Sep 4,963 Upper Lough Erne 646 899 1,660 1,447 2,062 Dec 1,343 Strangford Lough 703 400 581 420 230 Oct 467 Sites no longer meeting table qualifying levels in WeBS-Year 2003/2004 Blithfield Reservoir 1,946 1,731 890 1,830 1,621 Aug 1,604 Lower Lough Erne 272 197 Feb 235 American Coot Vagrant Fulica americana Native Range: N America GB max: 1 Dec NI max: 0 One was at the Loch of Clickimin in recorded during a WeBS count and the third December, January and March, the first ever for Britain.