Editing Ouse Washes (section)

===Birds===
====Breeding species====
[[File:Gallinago gallinago a1.JPG|Common snipe|thumb]]
The Ouse Washes are the most important site in England and Wales for breeding [[common snipe|snipe]], and also hold good populations of [[northern lapwing|lapwings]] and [[common redshank|redshanks]] and [[Eurasian oystercatcher|oystercatchers]]. [[Black-tailed godwit]]s were found breeding in 1952, and reached a peak of 65 pairs by 1972, but flooding severely reduced breeding success until the extension projects enabled up to 19 pairs to breed. [[Corn crake]]s released on the Nene Washes from 2005 as part of a reintroduction scheme found the Ouse Washes more to their liking with up to seven calling males each year, and several [[spotted crake]]s also call in the spring.<ref name=BB115/> 

Breeding ducks include 15% of the UK's [[garganey]]. Recent colonisers include the [[little egret]] (77 pairs in 2020), [[great white egret]] and [[Eurasian bittern|bittern]], while some former breeders including [[ruff (bird)|ruff]] and [[Savi's warbler]] have been lost. [[Little gull]]s, [[black tern]]s and [[black-winged stilt]]s have occasionally bred. Waders breed on the extension areas at a density of about four pairs per hectare (two pairs per acre), 18 times the level on the main site. [[Hobby (bird)|Hobbies]], [[western marsh harrier|marsh harriers]] and [[Western barn owl|barn owl]]s all breed around the washes, as do [[Western yellow wagtail|yellow wagtail]]s, [[corn bunting]]s and [[Eurasian tree sparrow|tree sparrows]], and [[common kingfisher|kingfishers]] nest in artificial banks.<ref name=BB115/>

====Wintering birds====
The Ouse Washes hosts [[Bewick's swan|Bewick's]] and [[whooper swan]]s in winter, which feed on nearby farmland during the day, returning to the washes in the evening,<ref name=BB115/> where visitors can watch them being fed under floodlight near the visitor centre.<ref name="winter">{{cite web |title=Wildlife:winter |url=https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/welney/wildlife/#tab_winter2 |publisher=WWT |access-date=16 August 2022}}</ref> More than 12,500 whooper swans wintered in 2021, about 5% of the world population. The number of Bewick's swans reaching the UK has fallen dramatically in the current century, as milder winters encourage them to remain in continental Europe, but several hundred still visit the washes.<ref name=BB115/>

The washes are of international importance for six species of wintering ducks, notably more than 20,000 [[Eurasian wigeon|wigeon]]. High waters levels prevent wigeon grazing on grass, and the extension areas were designed with this species in mind, so that they could feed when the main site was flooded. Up to 40 [[tundra bean goose|tundra bean geese]] and 130 [[Greater white-fronted goose|white-fronted geese]] visit annually. [[Gull]]s roost overnight, as do [[hen harrier]]s, and [[common crane]]s also spend the night on the washes after foraging for maize stubble on the arable farmland. A paid of cranes bred successfully on Lady Fen in 2018.<ref name=BB115/>

====Migrants and rarities====
Large numbers of [[bird migration|migrants]] may seek temporary refuge on the marshes, including 2&nbsp;million [[sand martin]]s (1968) 5,000 common snipe (1979), 500 ruffs (1989) and 130 [[red-breasted merganser]]s (1956). Major rarities recorded include a [[pied-billed grebe]] in 1968, a [[falcated duck]], Britain's first, in 1986, and a [[canvasback]] in 1997. More recent visitors have included a [[northern harrier]] in 2013, a [[Baikal teal]] in 2014, an [[isabelline wheatear]] in 2016 and a [[gull-billed tern]] in 2017. Scarce waders such as [[pectoral sandpiper]], [[Temminck's stint]] and [[red-necked phalarope]] are almost annual.<ref name=BB115/>