News
The barnacle geese are back!
Yesterday, the 23rd of September, the first 91 barnacle geese were seen on the reserve at Caerlaverock. We had reports from Arctic Norway that there were birds flying south on Friday and the first birds arrived on Sunday. They were feeding in the Lochar
Bird News
The Little Stint remained from yesterday but was not seen after mid morning but a Greenshank dropped in for a while but also couldn't be located later in the day. Upto 20 Ruff are still on site along with 600 Lapwing and good numbers of Common Snipe. A li
Out on the reserve today
Crane - 3 (Lady Fen) Pectoral sandpiper - at least 1 (accessable via the summer walk) Dunlin - 1 Ringed plover
Latest Sightings
Today say the arrival of the first Barnacle Geese of this Autumn/Winter with three groups (23,50,18) all coming in from the east. Elsewhere; Whooper Pond Gadwall 3 Tufted Duck 20 Mute Swan 5 Canada Goose 200 Greylag Goose 2 Otter Folly Pond Teal 200 Shove
Wildlife sightings for 23rd September 2012
11 Wigeon - scrape and sheltered lagoon 27 Pochard - main lake 77 Teal - scrape 9 Little Egret - circled site then flew W 1 Hobby 2 Peregrine - perched on hospital 41 Lapwing - main lake 239 Swallow - mostly flew S 150 House Martin - feeding over site 1 m
Autumnal changes
Apart from the cooler weather during the evenings and mornings, the birds are certainly well aware of the seasons. Sand martins have been seen in great numbers this autumn passage, with 20 plus at a time checking out the nesting tunnels on the sand marti
Sightings and guided walk details for rare waders
Guided walk to search for Buff-breasted and Pectoral Sandpiper Meet in/around the Holden Tower at 1300hrs. It is a half a mile walk there and back, uneven ground and no guarantee of seeing either but worth a try. They showed very well together yesterday
More Whooper Swans
At least 18 Whooper Swan were present today and large numbers of Pink-footed Geese c8000+ in and out of the reserve all day with 1000 around the Mere most of the day. The Little Stint is still present viewable from Ron Barker Hide, also Kingfisher continu
Today's sightings
Pectoral sandpiper - 2 Curlew sandpiper - 2 Dunlin - 5 Ruff - 2 Snipe - 3 Ringed plover -10 Black-tailed godwit - 12 Water rail - 1(Lyle hide) Marsh harrier - 3 Buzzard - 2 Hobby - 1 Kingfisher - 2
Latest Sighting
Whooper Pond Tufted Duck 14 Gadwall 1 Teal 1 Little Grebe 1 Canada & Greylag Goose Folly Pond Whooper Swan 6 (1 later flew to Flood Ground) Teal 120 Shoveler 20 Lapwing 10 Common Gull 2 Teal Pond Gadwall 2 Avenue Tower Pink-footed Goose 800+ Mute Swan
Wildlife sightings for 22nd September 2012
76 Shoveler - main lake 7 Snipe - grazing marsh, wader scrape, main lake 1 Wheatear - grazing marsh 7 Cetti's Warbler - main lake, reservoir lagoon, wildside, reedbed, sheltered lagoon 7 Blackcap - wildside, south route, sheltered lagoon 1 Willow Warbler
Plenty of waders
Holden Tower Meet here at 12.00 for a walk to search for the Buff Breasted Sandpiper. Seen well yesterday along with a Common Scotor and Common Seal. Zeiss Hide Teal 445 Black Tailed Godwit 200 Redshank 26 Ruff 6 Green Sandpiper 1 Snipe 9 in far left hand
Todays Sightings
Wader Lake/am/High Tide Curlew - 2 Grey Heron - 5 Shoveler - 4 Teal - 34 Lapwing - 49 Redshank - 62 Snipe - 2 Lesser Black Backed Gull - 1 Black Headed Gull - 36 Saline Lagoon Curlew - 1 Grey Heron - 1 Lapwing - 6 Other Birds Chaffinch - Wader Lake Path -
Bird News
12 Whooper Swans on the Mere today after a further 6 birds flew in mid-morning. Pink-footed Geese were very active today, with groups ranging in size from 3 or 4 birds, up to over 2,000 coming and going (and therefore making it very difficult to guage jus
Rare birds arrive before diggers finish creating new Somerset nature reserve
White-rumped Sandpiper (Tim Taylor) A rare white-rumped sandpiper is the latest unexpected arrival on the Steart peninsula, Somerset. It is currently recovering on a flooded field, despite being surrounded by one of t