Spring starting to take off

If you want to catch the whoopers before they go, now is the time! With all this beautiful weather many have decided to start setting off for Iceland and we now only have about 12 of our lovely whoopers left.

If you want to catch the whoopers before they go, now is the time! With all this beautiful weather many have decided to start setting off for Iceland and we now only have about 12 of our lovely whoopers left.

The Barnacle geese however, are still around with 2275 recorded on WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) this week. And they are often seen flying overhead as they hunt out the best feeding grounds before they too head northwards. A large flock of pink-footed geese have chosen to spend the last couple of mornings at the turning to Caerlaverock and have also been joining us on the reserve. Plenty of ducks are still chilling out here, with some big numbers on the WeBS count being 95 Shoveler, 121 Wigeon and 271 teal.

Talking of wildfowl, a male goosander has been gracing us with his presence on the Whooper pond this week. Which has been wonderful to see.

Though many birds will soon be leaving us others will arrive too. The black headed gulls have returned and we hope they like the look of our freshly re-graveled breeding platforms.

Extra nest boxes for our tree sparrows have also been put up this week, which will hopefully be put to good use.

Aside from birds, Hares are running around the area and frogs and toads have been seen mating on the Peter Scot Trail and right outside the visitor centre! The bees and butterflies are starting to get out and about too with plenty of buzzing to be heard in the willows on the Peter Scot Trail and a small tortoiseshell butterfly seen on site.

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.


Tide Times:

Fri 25/03 - 17:28 - 7.8

Sat 26/03 - 19:03 - 7.4

Sun 27/03 - 7:45 - 7.5

Mon 28/03 - 9:09 - 7.9

Tue 29/03 - 10:14 - 8.5

Wed 30/03 - 11:06 - 9.0

Thu 31/03 - 11:48 - 9.4


Photo credit: Alex Hillier

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

Chiffchaff

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

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