Latest Sightings
We have been very lucky to have had an Osprey on site this past Friday - it was seen flying over and some of our lovely visitors have taken some amazing photos of it! This hasn't been the only Bird of Prey on the reserve - we've seen a male and female Hen Harrier and a few Marsh Harriers over the week! We had an early morning today at Martin Mere out in the reedbed looking for Bittern and Water rail! Due to the clouds, it was quite a dark morning, reducing our visibility, however, there is a possibility that we managed to see a female in the reeds just before it took off - hopefully next week we will be able to confirm this! Also out this morning were Tufted Ducks and Teal swimming in the channels of the reedbed. At Discovery, we continue to have Avocet, Cormorants, and Shoveler, and the Black-headed Gulls have begun to build their nests of the islands directly in front of the hide. We've started to see little broods of ducklings following their mothers so keep an eye out for them this Easter! Last night we set up our moth trap and this morning managed to sort and identify all of the moths we caught. In total we caught an Early Thorn, 6 Hebrew Character, one Small Quaker, one Pine Beauty, one Common Quaker, one Twin-spotted Quaker, one Earl Grey, two Chestnut, one Clouded Drab, and one Ypsolopha ustella. Later in the week we'll be carrying out a butterfly survey and should be able to tell you a bit more about those species!
Our photo this week is of a Hen Harrier by David Thompson
