Recent sightings
Well, the weather over the last couple months had us all wishing we were ducks, paddling about in the cool water. Finally, the last couple weeks it has turned a little cooler and we’ve had some much-needed rain. I’m sure all your garden wildlife and flowers will be grateful. One of the best things you can do during those scorching days is to pop a small shallow “birdbath” out for your wildlife to cool down and have a drink. If you need more inspiration for your garden wildlife, pop over to our main website for more ideas: Gardening For Wildlife - The RSPB
Back to Burton Mere Wetlands.
After some regular sightings earlier in the season on the saltmarsh, mainly at Parkgate, then some tantalising glimpses up in the treetops of the heronry, we had a brief appearance from the Spoonbills a few weeks backs. You just never know when they are going to turn up, so always keep your eyes open for unexpected visitors to the reserve.
You don’t have to venture far at the moment, as the main scrape has had lots of action with tons of black-tailed godwit, the occasional Little-ringed Plover, then lapwing and redshank with their new chicks emerging from the wet grassland and not very common to the reserve, the Knot were still being reported last week.
Our Avocets are almost all gone at this point as we start to see the autumn migration. With this we've had the likes of Wood, Common, and Green Sandpiper all being seen recently, along with Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Greenshank all on their way back to wintering sites.
Spotted Redshank - Ron Thomas
Avocets - Paul Jubb
Another set of birds that will be heading off soon are the Swift, Swallow, House Martin and Sand Martin. All apart from Sand Martin have been showing really well from the Visitor centre, feeding furiously, dipping and diving across the scrape. The young Swallows can often be seen at this time of year gathering along the telephone lines getting ready to set off on their long journey back to Africa.
Another little raptor that is almost the same size as a Swift is the Hobby, which have been a little less seen spotted this year but we had a great if not brief view on Sunday.
Swallow - Ron Thomas
Visitors have had some fantastic sightings of the young birds recently as breeding season comes to an end. I have had fabulous stories and pictures of Little Grebe chicks catching a ride on the backs of their parents. Brand new, quite late avocet chicks was spotted to from the Visitor centre earlier last week and the Marsh Harriers have not disappointed with spectacularly close views from Marsh Covert hide of adults and juveniles. A few sets of Great Egrets with juveniles too! As I write this, an adorable sighting from one of our Hide Guide Volunteers, these little beauties, young Chiffchaff! We love to see what visitors have seen out there, so keep those pictures coming!
Chiffchaff juveniles - Tom Giles
Some spectacular moths, butterflies and damselflies can be found in the calm, dry conditions, including the striking Cinnabar Moth, Skippers and the first Purple Hairstreak Butterflies of the year. These can be spotted high up on the tops of the oak trees for the next few months.
Purple Hairstreak Butterfly - Melissa Roberts
The Bee Orchids didn’t seem to stick around very long, you had to be quick to get a glimpse of them mainly from the Visitor centre window looking straight down. We now have the Broad-leaved Helleborine just starting to appear, ask the staff in the centre where is best to look out for this one and please do be careful when walking along the path edges so not to accidentally step on wild flowers.
Broad-leaved Helleborine - John Hewitt
Star sighting
Scarlet Tiger Moth has been spotted a number of times now by staff at the Visitor centre and visitors out and about on the reserve. This striking moth can be seen flying during the day and is a relatively new occurrence to our reserve. With its flash of crimson underparts, it can easily be mistaken for a flashy butterfly. So, next time you’re walking out there thinking there’s not much to see, stop and have a closer look and perhaps you’ll spot a gem of your own!
Scarlet Tiger Moth - Neil Frances
Wardens wanderings
Further afield assistant warden, Liz, her fantastic team of volunteers and the three brilliant residential volunteers have been slogging away on the Welsh side at Point of Ayr. They are out there every day protecting the ever growing Little Tern colony. With now at least 24 pairs, 10 chicks and fingers crossed many more on the way.
They are there to ask questions and help you stick to the safe areas of the beach, so please do feel free to engage with them and please be kind to all our staff out there as they are working hard protect these precious species that we are very fortunate to have nesting in this area.
The team at Burton Mere Wetlands have been doing some great work the last couple weeks installing new gates, putting extensive efforts into keeping on top of the ever-growing jungle of vegetation that threatens to take over the paths, particularly made more difficult by the recent downpours we’ve had. They work thoroughly to keep the paths clear so everyone can have clear safe access on our spectacular reserve.
If you’ve recently been walking around and noticed some strange small rafts floating about the reserve and wondered what they are, wonder no more! These are part of the new Water Vole surveying project we are doing. There will be around 14 of these little rafts set up across the reserve with food placed on them. They are checked regularly to see if the little mammals have been through. We are looking for unique teeth marks, droppings even footprints left behind by the Water Voles.
We will also be surveying for their latrines, feeding stations and tunnels they leave around the banks of the ditches. We have camera traps set up to hopefully capture some footage of them too.
This is the start of an exciting piece of work that will continue over the years and may even require a dedicated Water Vole Surveyor in the future, so watch this space, as we may be seeking someone to take this role on.
Water Vole rafts - Dee Estuary
Get involved
I spent my Saturday on a fabulous day out with the RSPB Bird Watching and Wildlife Mersey Cruise. The team and customers alike had a great day, despite the choppy conditions that unfortunately stopped us heading out as far as we would have normally gone. We still managed to spot Porpoise and Seal amongst a nice range of gulls and Common Tern, Guillemot, Oystercatcher, and a bit of a surprise, a Sparrowhawk at the start were all the main sightings. We even had the iconic Liver Bird - the Cormorant. Sadly, this will be the only trip we do this year, as we normally have second one in September. So, keep an eye out for the cruises next year, it is definitely worth the wait.
Closer to home; We have an exciting new quiz trail out for the whole family to get involved in. Find your way around the nine quiz boards and get active with nature. Then record as you go and upload your short videos and share with us at #ExperienceRSPB.
Then, don't miss our Binoculars & Telescopes Open Day on 22 & 23 July. We'll have a great range of RSPB optics to try & a Viking expert will be on hand for all your technical questions. Don’t forget you can now purchase these products with directly then head straight out onto the reserve to enjoy!
For all other RSPB shopping, simply order with us for free home delivery when you spend over £15.
A brief update on our café: The handover from the building work is due 14 July. We then have a bit more work to complete and we need to advertise for the Food and Beverage Manger, so we hope this advert will be out soon. We then hope to open in the Autumn. In the meantime we still have our great selection of sandwiches, pastries, drinks and snacks available at the Visitor centre with a great view to match. Hope to see you soon.
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