Latest sightings

A very exciting weekend started with a fly over Osprey being mobbed by Common Terns, the bird flew over the mere towards the reedbed on Saturday morning. The moth trap has been really busy with the warm weather and new moon. Over 25 species of moths both days, highlights include Poplar Hawkmoths, Canary Shouldered Thorn, Orange Swift, Frosted Orange, Vine’s Rustic, Bulrush Wainscot and plenty of the migratory Small Mottled Willows.

There is plenty of mud on the mere which is attracting a nice array of waders. This weekend we had great views of a Spotted Redshank which showed well from the Raines hide (photo above credit - Mark Breaks) feeding on the mud on the Northern section of the Mere. It later flew to Boathouse sluice and hasn’t been relocated. Greenshank has been seen at the back of the mere on Saturday and 8 Green Sandpipers at Ron Barker hide on Sunday. Also 13 Snipe, 22 Ruff, 36 Black-tailed godwit, and 151 Lapwing. There are good numbers of yellow wagtails on site the best places to see them are the Ron Barker hide, Raines hide and plover field viewed from either the gate by Rees hide or from United Utilities hide.

This weekend is the WeBS count – a national BTO survey (Wetland Bird Survey) which is carried out across all wetland sites once a month and the data is used to inform population trends. The figures for this weekend are below. We had very high numbers for Cattle egret (27), Canada goose (861) and Greylag goose (1150).