Hen harriers and red kites stealing the show

A male hen harrier was seen yesterday from the Peter Scott Observatory, and one seen out on the saltmarsh today, dipping in and out of creeks and flying low over the gorse. We have also had several sightings of two red kites this week.

As exciting as always, a male hen harrier was seen yesterday from the Peter Scott Observatory and came quite close to the whooper pond before disappearing along the avenue, and one was seen out on the saltmarsh today, dipping in and out of creeks and flying low over the gorse. We have had several sightings of two red kites this week, which is really exciting for us to see signs that the species may be spreading through the area and may will be seen more frequently in future. Golden plover are regularly seen on the reserve, most recently a group of roughly 200 near the avenue tower. There are good numbers of wigeon, shoveler, teal, lapwing, redshank, curlews and oystercatcher moving around the reserve in small flocks. Cormorants, goosanders and shelduck have made visits to the folly and whooper pond this week, while the whooper swans have gradually started moving east, gathering and feeding for a couple more weeks before their journey back to Iceland. 50 or so whooper swans and thousands of barnacle geese are still on the reserve for visitors to see and hundreds of pink-footed geese can be seen in the fields on the way to our wetland centre and they can be seen as quite a close range. We have also had a few hare, rabbit, roe deer and fox sightings this week.

Unable to visit us in person or missing your daily fix of swans, waders, and badgers’ antics, then click on the link below to check out our webcam which is set on the Whooper pond during the day, and then set to view the badger feeding area from 5pm onwards.

https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/caerlaveroc.

Thurs 10/03 - 17:18 - 7.3 m

Fri 11/03 - 18:32 - 6.8 m

Sat 12/03 - 07:16 - 6.7 m

Sun 13/03 - 08:52 - 6.9 m

Mon 14/03 - 09:58 - 7.5 m

Tue 15/03 - 10:45 - 8.0 m

Wed 16/03 - 11:22 - 8.5 m

Thu 17/03 - 11:56 - 8.9 m

Fri 18/03 - 12:29 - 9.3 m

Sat 19/03 - 13:03 - 9.5 m

Photo credit: Brian Taylor

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