Wildlife

Each season brings its star species and spectacles to Castle Espie Wetland Centre

For the most up-to-date reserve news, view our latest sightings

Migratory birds return to the reserve full of birdsong. Look out for courtship rituals and impressive aerobatic displays as nesting and breeding season begins. Ducklings and chicks start to appear, while wood sorrel carpets the reserve.

Star species: common terns, sedge warbler, black-tailed godwit, black-headed gulls

Common terns visit the reserve in spring to prospect for breeding sites. Our tern rafts offer them an ideal habitat for nest building, with bare shingle and surrounding water.

Most of our lakes and ponds host families of ducklings, from tufted ducks to mallards to shelducks – there are always babies to see!

Sedge warblers arrive from Africa in early April to breed in reeds. Listen out for them loudly singing, whistling and trilling.

New life is all around the reserve as ducklings practise their newly-acquired swimming, dabbling or diving skills. Vivid dragonflies emerge around the ponds while butterflies flit across colourful wildflowers.

Star species: swallows, dragonflies, bats, orchids, oystercatcher

Look out for dragonflies including 4 spot chasers and common darters. You might even spot an emperor if you’re lucky!

Keep an eye out for common spotted, pyramidal, northern marsh and twayblade orchids scattered across the reserve. We even have some rare bee orchids amongst our wildflowers.

Oystercatchers feed around the mudflats, using their strong, flattened bill to prise open shellfish.

Eyes turn out to Strangford Lough for signs of the first Light-bellied brent geese. Bright-white little egrets stand out like lighthouses as dusk draws in earlier and the air feels crisp as leaves change colour and crunch underfoot.

Star species: light bellied brent geese, horse chestnut, fungi, grey plover, jays, teal

Brent geese start arriving from their breeding grounds in Arctic Canada. Approximately 90% of the world’s population descend on Strangford Lough to feed on the nutritious eel grass.

Look out for heaps of fungi dotted across the reserve including smoky bracket, clouded funnel, and shaggy inkcap.

Teal will fly together in large flocks and can lift very quickly into the air - which is why a group of them is known as a ‘spring’.

The reserve comes alive in an unforgettable natural spectacle as a huge variety of birds pattern the sky, shore and waters around Strangford Lough.

Star species: wigeon, siskin, dunlin, long-tailed tit, light bellied brent geese, whooper swans, shelduck

Wigeon start to gather in larger numbers, with the males showing off their striking pale stripe down the top of their heads and bills.

Flocks of tits move through the woodland following the remaining food sources and huddling together at night. Look out for great tits, blue tits, coal tits and long-tailed tits.

Lapwing, also known as a ‘pee-wit’ due to the call they make, can be seen flying high and showing off their rounded wings - an easy identifier of the species.