Recent Wildlife Sightings 9th - 15th March

Highlights: Sand Martin, Reed Bunting, Black-Tailed Godwit, Cetti's Warbler

The first Sand Martin of the year were spotted flying over Deep Water Lake on Saturday after completing their annual 4000+ kilometre journey from sub-Saharan Africa. One of the earliest summer visitors to arrive here, these aerial acrobats are adept at catching invertebrates in flight, usually over bodies of water. We hope to have more breeding success on site this year, having just refilled our purpose-built Sand Martin bank on Freshwater Lagoon with fresh sand last week.

It was a week of surveying for the reserve team, with the monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) and the first Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) of the season taking place. Both of these help us paint a picture of what birds are using the reserve and what areas they favour, which in turn influences how we manage the different habitats.

On the WeBS count, we were pleased to see that the Black-Tailed Godwit population on Dafen Scrapes had increased to a respectable 661. While still lower than usual at this time of year (some years see 1000+ birds), it was still positive to see a two-fold increase since last week. Many of these birds have developed their rust-coloured summer plumage in the past few weeks, likely in preparation for their imminent departure to their breeding grounds in Iceland.

The familiar explosive song of Cetti's Warbler reverberated across the reedbeds of Eastern Scrapes during the BBS count, accompanied by numerous Chiffchaff that have recently arrived for their summer visit from Southern Europe and Northern Africa. A Reed Bunting was also spotted near the reedbeds of Canoe Safari. A common sight throughout the country, they are most likely to be found grasping to reeds, with the striking black head and white ‘moustache’ of the male the best visual clues to look out for.