Inlet and Estuary - Gower - page 196

FIG 109. Male shelduck in the estuary. The area is nationally important because of the numbers of wildfowl using
the area in winter. (Harold Grenfell)
DylanThomas's'fishwifecrossgulls'arepresentthroughouttheyearinvaryingnumbers.Thehighest
numbersoccurinAugustandSeptember,whenregularflockingafterthesummerbreedingseasonoccurs.
Of the five gull species recorded three species show a considerable increase: black-headed gull, lesser
black-backedgullandgreatblack-backedgull,whilecommongullnumbershaveremainedstaticandher-
ring gull has significantly decreased in numbers. This decline is almost certainly linked to the closure of
nearby refuse tips.
The extensive reedbeds at Llangennech support breeding reed warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus and
sedge warblers A. schoenobaenus as well as reed buntings Emberiza schoeniclus .
A significant addition to the bird list is the little egret Egretta garzetta , first recorded in 1984 (Fig.
110). Until comparatively recently the little egret had been a rare visitor, with only single birds seen, but
now counts of 130 birds or more are common during the winter. Severe cold weather can prove difficult
for the egrets, but the relatively mild winters on the estuary mean that it can overwinter here. It bred for
the first time in Britain in 1996 and there were more than 30 pairs nesting at nine sites in 1999. It is prob-
ablyonlyamatteroftimebeforeitbreedsintheinletandestuary.Thelittleegrethasbeenjoinedrecently
by another 'exotic' bird, the Eurasian spoonbill Platalea leucorodia . Between 50 and 100 individuals are
recordedinBritaineachyear,mostlyonpassageoraswanderingjuveniles.Todateonlysinglebirdshave
been seen here, but it did breed in Britain in 1998, for the first time in many centuries.
FIG 110. Little egret, first recorded in the area in 1984. Over 130 are now present during the winter months. (Harold
Grenfell)
Systematic work on the wildfowl, wader and gull populations by dedicated local researchers, espe-
cially Robert Howells, started in 1949, and over more than half a century of continuous recording an in-
credibly detailed knowledge of the area and its value for birds has been built up. In 1969 the British Trust
for Ornithology and the RSPB started the Birds of Estuaries Enquiry. From this date until 1984 weekly