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Accessibility during autumn and winter

During the colder months, the reserve can be wet and muddy so waterproof footwear is recommended. Those with limited mobility or using push wheelchairs may find traversing the Avenue and Saltcot Loaning unsuitable. Please call us on 01387 770200 for more info.

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Latest sightings

Introducing our new feeding station

Introducing our new feeding station

After several months of planning and postponing and dreaming and rearranging, we have finally completed our first project – redesigning the bird feeder station. The station is along the Peter Scott Trail in an area of wet woodland. This habitat provides

20 February 2024
Willow Weaving

Willow Weaving

Before Christmas, a fence along the Saltcot Loaning blew over, an unfortunate event... Or was it?It gave us the exciting challenge of creating our very first willow screen. Willow is amazingly flexible due to its fast-growing nature causing a lack in cell

18 February 2024
Observations from the Big Hideout

Observations from the Big Hideout

Excitedly I grab some old binoculars after hearing that we have a certain visitor to our Whooper pond.Although they delight our team and visitors from time to time, I am yet to see one.It is with glee that upon hurriedly reaching the observatory, I am gre

16 February 2024
Put a ring on it

Put a ring on it

It is uncommon for us to be finding new swan rings at this time of year. Normally by this time, we stop seeing birds with rings that haven’t visited the reserve yet this season. But at the end of January, ZJA was spotted. The ring was old and weathered-

14 February 2024
The crunch of snail shells

The crunch of snail shells

I walk down the Saltcot Loaning and hear a crunch as I step. Glancing down, I notice a snail shell under the toe of my boot. I jerk back immediately, worried I’ve just crushed some little creature. I crouch down to look at it and it is just an empty she

6 February 2024
Caerlaverock Bird Race 2024 Final Update

Caerlaverock Bird Race 2024 Final Update

With the end of January comes the end of the Bird Race.The wardens, placement students and our very own site manager were put against each other in a battle of birding to see who knows their fieldfare from their redwing and who mistakes a blue tit for a g

1 February 2024
Going for Gold (Bird Race update 7)

Going for Gold (Bird Race update 7)

The longer we do the bird race, the trickier it gets. We were seeing three or four new species everyday in the first week or so but now a good day is a single new species. It becomes important that all the regulars are checked off the list and there is on

29 January 2024
Greenshank, twite and snipe (Bird Race update 6)

Greenshank, twite and snipe (Bird Race update 6)

Another week of the Bird Race and we're approaching the final stretch now. Highlights for the teams this week are greenshank on the Lochar, twite on the saltmarsh, large numbers of knot during the WeBS count and three woodcock in the carpark. Other sighti

21 January 2024
Who would choose that pond?

Who would choose that pond?

You see a shallow, muddy-looking pool in an area where there is little to no plant life around. You know that there must be a creature that likes it because there is almost nowhere on the planet that isn’t occupied by one animal or another. But who in t

21 January 2024
Gadwall, brent geese and siskin (Bird Race update 5)

Gadwall, brent geese and siskin (Bird Race update 5)

Meg: It’s over two weeks into the bird race and Ed started us off strong. I have added several species to our slowly growing list: we are on 62 species, trailing behind Team Warden and Team Dave. But I think it is an impressive feat considering our expe

17 January 2024
Working the office window (Bird Race Update 4)

Working the office window (Bird Race Update 4)

This Bird Race is tough for me: I’m not like the other teams, gallivanting round the reserve all day, in amongst the birds all the time. They only have to stumble over them to add them to their lists. I am busy taking one for the team, working the desk

14 January 2024
January Whooper Swan Update

January Whooper Swan Update

Swans are numbering at about 100 a day currently. A few more ringed and named have returned including Sugar Baby! ZJHAspen. -ZHLWhoopyZLABeatrice.YHVWowsieZJBBlessing.RenfrewZVXBrooklyn BelleZNDRosieZY2626Elsie BarbaraACFZLPKeith JohnTUZZNJLanriggUNRXLXLi

12 January 2024
End of week 1 (Bird Race update 3)

End of week 1 (Bird Race update 3)

It is Sunday and therefore the end to the first week of an exciting bird race.So far Team Warden is on 66 species. Their highlights include: spoonbill, hen harrier, merlin, goldcrest, sparrowhawk, tree sparrow, snipe and bullfinch.Two goldcrests in a hedg

7 January 2024
Who dares wins

Who dares wins

We really feel the winter at Caerlaverock. We get a lot of wind and a lot of rain. These ingredients are part of what shapes Caerlaverock, filling the wetlands, shaping the trees or sometimes removing them. The days where we get both in spades can be chal

7 January 2024
Would you risk your car's suspension for a sparrowhawk?

Would you risk your car's suspension for a sparrowhawk?

As a trading assistant at WWT Caerlaverock, it’s not a mandatory part of my job description to know a thing about birds and wildlife. I don’t own an anorak or wellies. I don’t know how to talk about tits without secretly finding it funny and I am ce

4 January 2024