birds of dawlish warren

International
A stable population of a few hundred thousand pairs nest, mostly during Sep - Dec, on steppe lakes, marshes and valleys in S America north to Rio Huanco in Chile and Buenos Aires and Cordoba in Argentina; also resident on the Falkland Islands. Southernmost populations migrate north, with wintering in N Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and S Brazil†.

Europe and Great Britain
First domesticated in 1870, it was sent from S America to Europe, where it soon bred in wildfowl collections. A popular attractive species, escapees have occasionally been recorded in Belgium, Spain and Switzerland, and fairly regularly encountered in GB††.  It has bred in a wild state, but no reports as such 2003 - 2008††.

Devon
The recent avifauna estimated 32 birds in 14 of the 20 years to 2010 with an annual max of five in 1996 and 2005†.   However, three at Mansands on 31 Aug 2005 was the first record in Devon since Dec 2001 and reports from 2006 of just single males at favoured locations between Beesands and Bowling Green Marsh without overlapping dates actually suggest only one or two widely roaming individuals are involved.

Dawlish Warren

The 1996 record was perhaps one of three birds seen at Bowling Green Marsh earlier that year and followed a few years of infrequent records around the county.

The more recent set of records here neatly follow the appearance of three individuals at Mansands in Aug 2005. During the period 11 Feb 2006 to 17 Feb 2010, most records are of a drake on the Main Pond and so probably refer to the same returning individual. The exceptions are the 07 Oct & 24 Dec 2007 and 05 Jan 2010 records which were with Wigeon in Shutterton Creek. The earliest and latest dates are 07 Oct and 06 Mar, and with 17 of the 23 recorded dates in Jan/Feb, this demonstrates a winter visiting bias.

17/01/2010 © Ivan Lakin