From woodland species to estuary specialists (Bird Race 2025)
Bird Race update 4
Since our last update the weather has warmed up after the cold snap we had melting the ice on our ponds. This meant we could finally count some regulars like pintail and gadwall. Team Office also spotted a sporadic species at Caerlaverock - the little grebe! Always a nice species to spot.
The saltmarsh always offers up special species to those patient enough to wait... And go up to the Saltcot Merse Observatory at high tide! Over the past week or so we’ve seen knot, dunlin, merlin and cormorant on the merse. When it's high tide, the water comes in much closer to the observatory bringing birds that normally hang out further out closer in.
We’ve even had an American visitor: a ring-necked duck was seen on the Whooper Pond with our regular group of tufted ducks. It didn’t stay for long but was great to see it so close up from the Peter Scott Observatory. We also had some other of the more uncommon species on the reserve such as a ruff foraging around the newly created scrapes. Dave flushed a woodcock the other evening, an elusive wader probably spends a lot more time on parts of the reserve in the evenings when it will venture into our fields to feed. I saw a red kite flying through the northern part of the reserve swiftly followed by an angry carrion crow which is uncommon on the reserve outside of August.
Looking back over the species we’ve seen, it’s really nice that there's a mix of species from farmland birds like reed bunting, skylark and tree sparrow to estuary specialists like oystercatcher, dunlin and cormorant to woodland species like great spotted woodpecker, woodcock and jay.
Only a day left!
Current Scores
Team Office: 85
Team Warden: 81
Team Placement: 68
