Latest Sightings
It has been a busy weekend at Martin Mere with three rarities on site.
The first bird to arrive was a curlew sandpiper first seen on Woodend Marsh on Saturday morning and it has stuck around for a couple of days and is still on site as of Monday afternoon. The bird has favoured feeding on Woodend Marsh being seen from both Rees hide and Gordon Taylor hide, but has also been seen most recently from Ron Barker hide on Vinson's (left hand water body) feeding on the mud. Curlew sandpiper breed in arctic Siberia and winter in Africa so the bird is likely use Martin Mere as a stop off to fuel up before continuing on its migration.
A juvenile black-necked grebe has also made an appearance on the reedbed being seen from Harrier hide. Black-necked grebe don't breed at Martin Mere so the juvenile has evidently flown in. The nearest breeding population is at Woolston Eyes near Warrington so the bird likely fledged from here, however it also could have come from further afield.
We have also had a red kite on site on Monday to add to the raptor excitement in the past few days with hobby, marsh harrier, kestrel and peregrine also seen recently.
