Latest sightings
We have dropped the water levels on the mere and the waders are loving it, the best place at the moment is the viewing screens between discovery hide and Gladstone (where the swan link hide used to be). Great views this week of common sandpipers, green sandpipers, ruff and greenshank (fantastic photo by Janice Sutton). Black-tailed godwits at Ron Barker. Lots of lapwing on woodend marsh and good views of common sandpipers and green sandpipers at the Gordon Taylor hide.
We had the most abundant butterfly survey for years this week 165 meadow browns!! Lots of red admirals, peacocks, skippers, gatekeepers, green-veined whites and a lovely fresh comma.
The mallards are in full moult at the moment, ducks swans and geese drop all of their flight feathers at once and become flightless for a couple of weeks they like to do this somewhere safe as they are more at risk from predators, so our mallards are looking a bit rough as they are in eclipse plumage and moulting.
At Janet Kear hide there are lots of greenfinches, goldfinches, chaffinches, blue tits and great tits, with occasional visits from the great-spotted woodpeckers, willow tit and bullfinches.
