Latest Sightings
Our warden team has recently carried out our monthly WeBS – Wetland Bird Survey – count. The weather was kind to us and it was a productive morning with a range of species!
We are doing well for wildfowl at the minute, with 5 Mute Swan, 13 Pochard, 28 Shoveler, 82 Teal, 2 Wigeon, 3 Pink-footed Geese, 115 Shelduck, 1 Whooper Swan, 22 Gadwall, 366 Mallard and 5 Tufted Duck. These birds can be seen in most places across our site, aside from the non-migratory Whooper and Pink-feet, which are often in the outer fields. It’s important to remember that there will be more birds out there, but many females will be hidden away incubating eggs.
Waders – generally on Woodend Marsh or the outer fields – are also doing well. We counted 28 Avocet, 2 Curlew, 8 Oystercatcher, 5 Redshank, 5 Snipe, 20 Black-tailed Godwit and 48 Lapwing.
On the Mere and Woodend Marsh, you can see great numbers of gulls in their colonies – our team counted 1323 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 3 Mediterranean Gulls.
Additionally, we recorded 7 Cattle Egret, 3 Great Egret, 1 Kingfisher, 37 Coot, 1 Grey Heron, 54 Moorhen, 36 Canada Geese, 3 Cormorant, 3 Great-crested Grebe, 89 Greylag Geese and 4 Little Grebe. The star of the show however was definitely a lovely Spoonbill which briefly flew over the outer fields – this bird has been seen on the Mere in recent days, so keep your eyes peeled! A few Grasshopper Warblers have now arrived back on site, as well as plenty of Sedge and Reed Warblers - these can all be heard in our Reedbed.
Photograph of a Lapwing.
