Latest Sightings
Just when we thought things couldn’t get any more exciting, after the arrival of the juv purple heron, we’ve had another visitor from further afield turn up on the reserve. A pectoral sandpiper arrived on Woodend marsh at around mid-day on Saturday and gave great views, although slightly distant. The pec stayed throughout Sunday but this time giving incredibly close views of this North American wader! But unfortunately it was flushed with a group of lapwings and began to head north and gain height and appears to have carried on going.
Also on Woodend marsh was a little stint briefly on Sunday morning, 3 black-tailed godwits and 5 ruff (4 adults and 1 juv). A black-tailed godwit was also present on the mere yesterday and today along with a green sandpiper and plenty of snipe can be seen almost anywhere on the reserve, with a particularly high concentration of them viewable from Gordon Taylor hide.
Herons and egrets have also been doing well on the reserve the past couple of days with the clear highlight being the purple heron who is still being seen around the reserve. Although no sightings yet today, there is plenty of ditches around the reserve that it could be hiding in. Our 4 cattle egrets can be seen on the backs of the cattle who are currently grazing around the mere and the young grey heron seen that was ringed in Staffordshire made a reappearance from Ron Barker hide.
Wildfowl numbers are constantly changing at the moment, with migration really getting underway now. The mere is attracting in more and more pintails and a pair of pochards were amongst the ever growing numbers of wigeon. Pink-footed geese are still streaming in and can be seen almost anywhere on the reserve. But the most exciting wildfowl news of today is that the first two whooper swans of the autumn arrived on the reserve this morning! The pair were on Woodend marsh and flew off at around 8:45am.
A willow tit was seen briefly and then caught at Janet Kear hide for our ringing demonstration, confirming that this was a juvenile and so, willow tits have bred either on the reserve or somewhere close by, this is really exciting due to willow tits being one of our fastest declining species!
Other species of interest on the reserve over the past few days include kingfishers from Ron Barker, Gordon Taylor, United Utilities and on the mere. A merlin was seen from United Utilities and a peregrine over Woodend marsh.
North West Bird Watching Festival 2022
Join us at this year’s Bird Watching Festival and watch up to 30,000 pink-footed geese return to the roost. We’ll have guest speakers, exhibitors, photography workshops and guided reserve walks for a full day out from dawn till dusk. Find out more.
