Spring starting to take off

If you want to catch the whoopers before they go, now is the time! With all this beautiful weather many have decided to start setting off for Iceland and we now only have about 12 of our lovely whoopers left.

If you want to catch the whoopers before they go, now is the time! With all this beautiful weather many have decided to start setting off for Iceland and we now only have about 12 of our lovely whoopers left.

The Barnacle geese however, are still around with 2275 recorded on WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) this week. And they are often seen flying overhead as they hunt out the best feeding grounds before they too head northwards. A large flock of pink-footed geese have chosen to spend the last couple of mornings at the turning to Caerlaverock and have also been joining us on the reserve. Plenty of ducks are still chilling out here, with some big numbers on the WeBS count being 95 Shoveler, 121 Wigeon and 271 teal.

Talking of wildfowl, a male goosander has been gracing us with his presence on the Whooper pond this week. Which has been wonderful to see.

Though many birds will soon be leaving us others will arrive too. The black headed gulls have returned and we hope they like the look of our freshly re-graveled breeding platforms.

Extra nest boxes for our tree sparrows have also been put up this week, which will hopefully be put to good use.

Aside from birds, Hares are running around the area and frogs and toads have been seen mating on the Peter Scot Trail and right outside the visitor centre! The bees and butterflies are starting to get out and about too with plenty of buzzing to be heard in the willows on the Peter Scot Trail and a small tortoiseshell butterfly seen on site.

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.

Tide Times:

Fri 25/03 - 17:28 - 7.8

Sat 26/03 - 19:03 - 7.4

Sun 27/03 - 7:45 - 7.5

Mon 28/03 - 9:09 - 7.9

Tue 29/03 - 10:14 - 8.5

Wed 30/03 - 11:06 - 9.0

Thu 31/03 - 11:48 - 9.4

Photo credit: Alex Hillier

As well as this week's highlights, you are likely to see the following on the reserve:

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