Latest sightings
Black-winged stilt
The best bird of today was a Black-winged Stilt seen from the Ron Barker it flew at 1pm towards woodend marsh and has been refound at the back of the Mere at 14:50. The photo here was taken by John Napier tday at the Ron Barker hide. Looking back through
15 May 2023
Latest Sightings
Breeding season is well underway, with more and more eggs and chicks cropping up every day. We surveyed the mere for black headed gull nests today: there was a total of 591 nests and 1140 eggs! The islands were also crawling with chicks, some just hatched
11 May 2023
Latest Sightings
Plenty of activity on the reserve currently with new arrivals and lots of activity from breeding birds. The mere is constantly busy with black-headed gulls that are sitting on nests and in amongst them there is often the odd Mediterranean gull or two. One
4 May 2023
Latest Sightings
The reed bed is now alive with warblers. The first grasshopper warbler was heard yesterday and the sedge and reed warblers are growing in numbers. A whitethroat was seen near Gordon Taylor hide yesterday. Blackcaps have been heard along the nature trail.T
27 April 2023
Latest Sightings
Our first yellow wagtail of the year was found on the reserve on the 16th along with our first garganeys of the year, a male and female were present throughout the day, on the mere in the morning and seen later in the day from Ron Barker. 10 wheatears wer
18 April 2023
Latest Sightings
Spring migrants keep on coming with our first House martin of the year on the 12th, and first reed warbler was singing in the reedbed this morning. We've been having a good passage of wheatears over the past few days with 7 behind Woodend marsh on the 12t
14 April 2023
Sightings
Spring is on its way! And it’s bringing the warblers and the waders with it.The warblers have made their way back from as far south as southern Africa. We’ve had sedge and willow warblers joining the cetti’s warbler on the reedbed. Chiffchaffs have
7 April 2023
Latest Sightings
As spring migration progresses are swans and geese are heading off to their breeding grounds. 6 whooper swans were all that was on the mere during our count this morning, along with just 300 pink-footed geese on Vinson's and Sunley's. However, spring migr
5 April 2023
Latest Sightings
Whooper swans are slowly leaving us, with our weekly counts dropping each time. This week we had 114 whoopers roost with us, but the mere definitely feels quite empty during the day without them! Our count for pink-footed geese this week was similar to la
31 March 2023
Latest Sightings
The seasons are changing and spring migration is beginning to get underway, the mere definitely feels quieter with the reduced numbers of swans and ducks. Waders however, are increasing on the mere with 49 avocets on the 22nd and 77 black-tailed godwits o
24 March 2023
Latest Sightings
It’s been an exciting weekend on the mere. Two of the four great crested grebes that usually breed here turned up at Harrier Hide on Sunday. They were looking resplendent with their mating crests and performing their brilliant mating dance. The calls
20 March 2023
Latest Sightings
The sounds of lapwing, skylark and reed bunting song can be heard from the footpath Gordon Taylor. Chiffchaff and chaffinches have also started gearing up for breeding season, the latter’s song being heard on the footpaths throughout the reserve, though
16 March 2023
Latest Sightings
The yellow browed warbler and siberian chiff chaffs have been seen at the sewage farm again. We did our Wetland Bird Survey today, here are the results: Wigeon 347 Gadwall 24 Teal 442 Mallard 804 Pintail 388 Shoveler 18 Pochard 15 Tufted duck 14 Shelduc
13 March 2023
Latest Sightings
More and more waders are turning up on the reserve with 36 black-tailed godwits on the mere on Saturday. Oystercatcher numbers are rising with 99 birds at our highest count, spending much of their time on the back of the mere along with between 10 and
6 March 2023
Latest Sightings
The passerines have been a highlight this week. We have had 2 reports of a brambling from Kingfisher hide. 5 linnet were also seen feeding on the alders at this hide. A coal tit was seen feeding at the Raines. Three tree sparrows were also seen at the Rai
2 March 2023