Latest sightings

Latest Sightings

Click to enlarge A pleasant summers day and the return of the first 'autumn' Ruff, a male, just starting to moult out of it's breeding plumage. It was a little distant on Sunley's Marsh feeding with Black-tailed Godwi

27 June 2015

Common Tern chicks still alive!

Yes, 10 days on from our first Common Terns hatching young, we can report that the chicks are still alive! It's a difficult struggle for any of the young of anything breeding on the reserve, as everything finds itself on a lower rung of the food chain lad

26 June 2015

The news is back...

Apologies for the lack of updates over the past 7 day due to technical difficulties which should now be ironed out. You've not missed anything rare or unusual, at least as far as we know! The Martin Mere twitter account is great for instant bird news and

24 June 2015

Red Kite

Brief update. A Red Kite flew South over the reserve at 16:55. The first sighting since November 2013. 'back of the camera' shot of Red Kite being mobbed by Black-tailed Godwit The reserve's year list has now reached

17 June 2015

Common Tern hatch young.

Some exciting news of the first breeding record of Common Tern at Martin Mere, as a pair which has been sitting for ~ 3 weeks hatched two young out on Woodend Marsh today. It's difficult to be optimistic for the chances of these chicks with marauding Grey

16 June 2015

Cuckoo

Cuckoo seen this morning from the Janet Kear Hide then flew towards Harrier Hide. click on map to enlarge Two Med Gull on the Mere with Black-headed Gulls. Many of the Black-headed Gull juveniles are now flying.

15 June 2015

Hobby

Overcast with some light rain then warming through the day. A brief fly-by Hobby over the Sewage Works early on, probably attempting to catch one of the House Martin, Swallow or Swift that have been feeding low over there and on the rest of the reserve. O

14 June 2015

Latest Sightings

All the eastern promise and the forecasted rain today came to nothing. Still plenty of action to be had around the reserve with a morning birding total of over 60 species. Click on map to enlarge Two Sanderling (one i

13 June 2015

Hobby

A very pleasant warm, windless sunny summer's day. Classic conditions for Falco subbuteo or in common parlance Hobby. A bird which is annual on the reserve but sometimes difficult to connect with. This afternoon one was showing well but distantly, hawking

10 June 2015

Latest Sighting

A relatively quiet couple of days as high pressure builds allowing the wind to drop and feeling slightly warmer. I say quiet but it is easily possible to see 60-70+ species on the reserve even if fewer passage migrants are obvious. A Common Snipe drumming

9 June 2015

Little Stint

Still on the breezy side but warm in the sun out of the hides! One or two people about hoping to connect with yesterday's Red-necked Phalarope. Rare that phalaropes heading to the breeding grounds hang around for more than a day and this was no exception.

7 June 2015

Red-necked Phalarope

A cracking female Red-necked Phalarope found on Vinson's Marsh by Gordon Taylor (who now has all the world's phalaropes on his 'self-found list!). Present 16:00 pm at least. Red-necked Phalarope on Vinson's Marsh The

6 June 2015

Latest Sightings

A little taste of warmer weather and still some waders moving through. Yesterday 9 Sanderling briefly touched down on the reserve beating the previous highest count of 7 birds from May 1986! A female Gadwall had 8 ducklings in tow in front of the Harrier

5 June 2015

Latest Sightings

Click on Map for larger view Although ever optimistic about the potential arrival of new migrants on the back of the wild weather in the past 24 hours, we can report that nothing obviously has appeared so far... Two C

2 June 2015

Curlew Sandpipers

Two Curlew Sandpiper dropped in on the edge of the weather front this morning and were still present 16:30. An excellent run of late, these 'Curlew Sands' are the 24th species of wader recorded on site this year. One of th

1 June 2015