Bird Watching Festival

Iolo WilliamsIolo Williams, Andy Rouse and Mark Avery are some of the celebrity guest speakers visiting WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre for the North West Bird Watching Festival on Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 November.

Whether you’re a group of photographers, birdwatchers or you all just love the outdoors, there is something for everyone at this event in Burscough, Ormskirk.

Listen to a stellar line up of guest speakers at the event, including BBC Springwatch’s Iolo Williams, leading animal photographer Andy Rouse and RSPB’s Graham Jones talking about the hen harrier project and Mark Avery.  You can also attend a range of wildlife talks, pick up tips from photography seminars and workshops, see demonstrations, network with experts to learn more about our feathered friends, browse through lots of wildlife and bird watching goodies, and round their day off with some delicious homemade cake at the Mereside Cafe .

Highlights for your group at the bird watching festival at WWT Martin Mere include:

  • Having access to the reserve from 8am, offering your group the chance to watch and photograph tens of thousands of pink-footed geese and Whooper swans as they awake and leave their roost
  • Seeing the award winning spectacle of up to a thousand Whooper swans feeding right in front of them on the mere, as well as thousands of shelduck, wigeon and teal, at 3pm
  • Exploring the new 50m Discovery hide. The new hide has 4 distinct sections depending on the type of experience your group requires or their level of birding expertise.  Groups can sit in warmth and comfort watching amazing wildlife on sofas with scopes provided, or chose to have a more wild experience in the open hide sections
  • Access to free ringing demonstration workshops allowing your group to get up close to some wonderful species
  • Walking with Reserve Manager Tom Clare to find the top ten species at Martin Mere at this time of year
  • Testing your group’s birdwatching skills by seeing who can spot the most species at Martin Mere between 9.30 – 3.30

For further event information, workshop bookings and a detailed list of exhibitors, please visit: www.wwt.org.uk/nwbwf.

WWT Martin Mere is open every day from 9.30am to 4.30pm and parking is free of charge. Situated off the A59, it is signposted from the M61, M58 and M6.  The Centre is also accessible via the Southport to Manchester and the Liverpool to Preston line by train from Burscough Rail Stations.  Visit the web site http://www.wwt.org.uk/martinmere/ to find out what’s on all year round at Martin Mere and the other eight centres.

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