After the rain
Nearly 24 hours of rain over the weekend has put the water levels up considerably round the reserve. Once the levels on Pump House Sluice start to drop we should have a bit more wader mud back.
A good start to the morning with 620 Black-tailed Godwit roosting on the Mere and a colour ringed bird among them (below). This bird was ringed in Portugal on the 5 Jan 2019 by the University of Extremadura and was presumably on it's winter holidays there! More recently its been spotted at Caldy on the Wirral on the 23rd July then Crosby, Merseyside on the 24th July.
A few Barn Owl out hunting this morning until 11.30 at least. The poor weather means they will have had little opportunity to catch prey over the past few days.
Kingfishers (2) have been showing well at the Ron Barker Hide today and over the weekend.
Wader today included 1400 Black-tailed Godwit, 24 Ruff, 3 Green Sandpiper, 2 Wood Sandpiper, 400+ Lapwing, 3 Avocet, Redshank, 2 Oystercatcher.
Raptor; Marsh Harrier, 2 Kestrel, 3 Buzzard, Sparrowhawk.
A noticeable increase in the numbers of Painted Lady Butterfly present today with an estimate of over 400 seen today, probably much higher. Twelve species of butterfly recorded today.
