Hen harriers and red kites stealing the show

A male hen harrier was seen yesterday from the Peter Scott Observatory, and one seen out on the saltmarsh today, dipping in and out of creeks and flying low over the gorse. We have also had several sightings of two red kites this week.

As exciting as always, a male hen harrier was seen yesterday from the Peter Scott Observatory and came quite close to the whooper pond before disappearing along the avenue, and one was seen out on the saltmarsh today, dipping in and out of creeks and flying low over the gorse. We have had several sightings of two red kites this week, which is really exciting for us to see signs that the species may be spreading through the area and may will be seen more frequently in future. Golden plover are regularly seen on the reserve, most recently a group of roughly 200 near the avenue tower. There are good numbers of wigeon, shoveler, teal, lapwing, redshank, curlews and oystercatcher moving around the reserve in small flocks. Cormorants, goosanders and shelduck have made visits to the folly and whooper pond this week, while the whooper swans have gradually started moving east, gathering and feeding for a couple more weeks before their journey back to Iceland. 50 or so whooper swans and thousands of barnacle geese are still on the reserve for visitors to see and hundreds of pink-footed geese can be seen in the fields on the way to our wetland centre and they can be seen as quite a close range. We have also had a few hare, rabbit, roe deer and fox sightings this week.

Unable to visit us in person or missing your daily fix of swans, waders, and badgers’ antics, then click on the link below to check out our webcam which is set on the Whooper pond during the day, and then set to view the badger feeding area from 5pm onwards.

https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/caerlaveroc.

Thurs 10/03 - 17:18 - 7.3 m

Fri 11/03 - 18:32 - 6.8 m

Sat 12/03 - 07:16 - 6.7 m

Sun 13/03 - 08:52 - 6.9 m

Mon 14/03 - 09:58 - 7.5 m

Tue 15/03 - 10:45 - 8.0 m

Wed 16/03 - 11:22 - 8.5 m

Thu 17/03 - 11:56 - 8.9 m

Fri 18/03 - 12:29 - 9.3 m

Sat 19/03 - 13:03 - 9.5 m

Photo credit: Brian Taylor

As well as this week's highlights, you are likely to see the following on the reserve:

Birds

Mammals

Named Whooper Swans

Mute Swan

Hare

Yellow ZHD - Renouf

Greylag geese

Roe Deer

Yellow ZND - Rosie

Canada Geese

Weasel

Yellow ZLD - McMurdoston

Shelduck

Stoat

Orange XLX - Linda Graham

Mallard

Fox

Yellow ZLS - Handel

Gadwall

Otter

Yellow ZXP - Mary

Shoveler

BadgerRed APR - Elsie Barbara

Teal

Orange YFB - Eric Anthony

Moorhen

Yellow ZHV - Wampool

Cormorant

Yellow ZJS - Hendrik

Little Egret


Orange YSJ - Sheldon Whooper

Grey Heron

Orange YTF - Odette

Buzzard


Orange XKU - Solway Siren

Kestrel


Orange XLL - Chris

Peregrine Falcon

Yellow ZLA - Beatrice

Merlin

Yellow ZJI - Indigo Montoya

Sparrowhawk

Yellow ZJX - Polly

Golden Plover

Yellow ZVL - Nobby Nobkin

Oystercatcher

Yellow ZNP - Lucky Linda

Lapwing

Orange XLD - Donald Ivan

Common Sandpiper

Yellow ZFV - Giffnock

Redshank

Yellow ZLP - Keith John

Black-tailed Godwit

Yellow ZNC - Rowena Two

Curlew

Yellow ZSB - Sugar Baby

Snipe

Yellow ZPY - Sigurdswan

Black-headed Gull

Yellow ZJH - Aspen

Common Gull

Yellow ZJN - Nado

Herring Gull

Yellow ZVC - Ava-Grace

Great Black Backed Gull

Orange XLJ - Bernard

Wood Pigeon

Yellow ZJZ - Snoopy

Collared Dove

Yellow ZLJ - TJ Whooper

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Yellow ZNA - George

Skylark

Yellow ZNU - Janis

Yellowhammer

Redwing

Fieldfare

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Dunnock

Robin

Song Thrush

Blackbird

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Wren

Great Tit

Coal Tit

Blue Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Treecreeper

Jackdaw

Rook

Carrion Crow

Raven

Starling

House Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Chaffinch

Linnet

Twite

  • Share this article