Latest Sightings
Another day of plenty of bird life on the reserve, unfortunately the purple heron has not been seen since Wednesday but hopefully it will reappear! The 4 cattle egrets are still showing well on the backs of the cattle around the mere and can be seen catching frogs that are disturbed by the cattle as they walk!
Pink-footed geese are everywhere on the reserve now, over 4000 were counted on our goose count and the sound of them arriving and commuting between sites can be heard all day long! A large number of them came in to roost on the mere yesterday evening and amongst them was a lone barnacle goose, its nice to think that this could be a genuine wild barnacle that has been caught up with the pinks and arrived here, unlike the small group of feral barnacles that are in the area! Pintail and wigeon numbers are continuing to build as the autumn progresses and the male shovelers are looking smarter with each passing day as they moult into their winter plumage.
The highlight of yesterdays wader passage was a little stint seen from Ron Barker, our third of the autumn! But, like the other two, it didn't hang around for long. Snipe numbers are increasing with 50 seen from Gordon Taylor yesterday and at least 2 redshanks were heard calling from a large flock of waders flushed by a marsh harrier on woodend marsh. 17 ruff were on the pools by Ron Barker but no black-tailed godwits. 6 ringed plovers and a dunlin were however feeding with the ruff.
Plenty of meadow pipits and skylarks can be heard as they pass over the reserve and still the odd yellow wagtail is passing over, 2 yesterday flew high over woodend marsh. Cetti's warblers are still singing over much of the reserve and flocks of greenfinchs, goldfinchs and chaffinchs can be seen from Janet Kear hide.
A number of hirundines are still showing all over the reserve, mostly swallows and a few house martins, yesterday they were joined by 2 sand martins.
Other species of interest are a water rail showing well from Ron Barker and also from Ron Barker, a ringtail hen harrier was reported.
North West Bird Watching Festival 2022
Join us at this year’s Bird Watching Festival and watch up to 30,000 pink-footed geese return to the roost. We’ll have guest speakers, exhibitors, photography workshops and guided reserve walks for a full day out from dawn till dusk. Find out more.
