Latest Sightings

We’ve had some very exciting sightings over the weekend, particularly with the first arrivals of Whooper Swans which have travelled to Martin Mere all the way from Iceland! Our reserve team carried out a dawn count on Sunday morning where we found 145 across the reserve, but more will be arriving over the next month. The Pink-footed Geese numbers also continue to rise, with the dawn count finding over 8000!

The Ring-necked Duck has continued to show well across the weekend. It can often be seen sleeping outside of the Discovery Hide, which can make it more difficult to identify, but helpful things to look out for include the white flash near the shoulder of the bird contrasted by the darker silver on its side.

Other notable sightings across the Mere include high numbers of our different waterfowl species, notably eight Pochard, 11 Gadwall, 36 Shelduck, 36 Tufted Duck, 48 Wigeon, 111 Shoveler, 251 Pintail, and 844 Teal! We have also seen an array of egrets, including one Little Egret, two Great White Egrets, and up to 28 Cattle Egrets who can be seen behind the Mere amongst our herd of English Longhorn Cattle. Our birds of prey have also been showing well, with visitors enjoying views of a Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, and Sparrowhawk hunting over the Mere. Three House Martins and four Swallows have also been spotted which is surprising as the majority have migrated by this time of year.

At Janet Kear, visitors spotted one Goldcrest and six Long-tailed Tits enjoying our bird feeders. And, over at Harrier Hide, one Little Grebe and two Snipe were also spotted.

This weekend our reserve team also carried out the WeBS count – a national BTO survey (Wetland Bird Survey) which is carried out across all wetland sites once a month, with the data used to inform population trends. The figures for this weekend are below.

Picture of a Whooper Swan.