Latest Sightings
A wide variety of bird species continues to thrive here on the reserve at Martin Mere.
2 Yellow Wagtails have been seen on the reserve recently. A colourful adult male was spotted from the Ron Barker hide on Saturday, whereas a juvenile was seen on the ground in front of the Gordon Taylor hide today. This species is noticeably larger than its relatives and does not wag its tail as frequently.
On Tuesday, 3 Common Terns were spotted on the main mere, which is visible from the Discovery hide. These birds managed to successfully breed at Martin Mere this year, and numerous juveniles can still be found with brown feathers along their backs and wings. Today on the main mere, 50+ Lapwings, 15 Shelducks, 2 Stock Doves and 2 Marsh Harriers were seen. 1 Common Gull, which is ironically a relatively uncommon bird, was observed today swimming in the waters of the main mere before flying over to the pond in front of Harrier hide.
From the Harrier hide pond, 4 Little Grebes, 2 Little Egrets, 2 Mute Swans, 3 Cormorants, 5 Grey Herons, 2 Oystercatchers, 1 Great Black-Backed Gull, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 19 Black-Tailed Godwits and 5 Tufted Ducks were observed today.
Gordon Taylor hide presented a range of bird species today, which included 4 Little Ringed Plover juveniles, 3 Green Sandpipers, 4 Avocets (along with 2 juveniles), 2 Reed Warblers, 1 Common Sandpiper and 2 Ruff - one of which was a 'satellite male', identified through its mostly white feather plumage. Satellite male Ruff are submissive by nature and do not fight competitors over females during the breeding season.
2+ Reed Bunting, 3 Sedge Warblers and 2 Linnets were spotted from the Tomlinson hide today. Behind the Tomlinson hide, 2 Buzzards were seen resting atop their favoured wooden fence posts. 15+ Stonechats were also present, also taking advantage of fence posts and low trees to hunt for their insect prey.
Photograph of a male Yellow Wagtail.
