What a cracking few days of weather it's been on the Dee Estuary, finally a proper taste of spring. At this time of year Burton Mere Wetlands' conservation priorty is getting three particular types of wading bird nesting on the lowland wet grassland and across the main scrape: avocets, lapwings and redshanks. Needless to say, these are all in plentiful supply at present, along with the first of their hatched chicks. Black-tailed godwits have also been around in their hundreds, a rare non-breeding summer flock that the Dee boasts every year, whilst small numbers of oystercatchers are nesting close to the scrapes.
The reserve also plays host to a range of other wading birds as they migrate to more northerly breeding grounds. Recent days have seen common, green and wood sandpipers all grace the reserve, with two of the latter showing well today from the Marsh Covert Hide along with half a dozen spotted redshanks in stunning black summer plumage plus a handful of ruffs performing their characteristic lekking behavior in an attempt to attract the lone female there with them. Also present was a single little ringed plover and one little stint.
Male garganey in flight by Lynne Greenstreet
It's not just waders that find space to nest around the wetlands, with a variety of ducks - mallard, gadwall, tufted, teal and shoveler paired up, plus the odd pair of wigeon and pintail still hanging around. Three garganeys were in amongst the aforementioned wader action from Marsh Covert Hide today, one pair plus a second male. Single pairs of common terns and Meditteranean gulls are amongst the black-headed gull colony on the main scrape, potentially prospecting nest sites.
The heronry is getting noisy but proving more difficult than ever to view birds on nests, and to add to the herons and little egrets there are a small number of cattle egrets, great white egrets and a single spoonbill frequenting the woodland and making occasional forays to the pools.
All of the expected warblers are in now, with common whitethroats particularly notable this week and plentiful reed and sedge warblers in and around the reedbed. Wheatears and whinchats are still moving through, whilst yellow wagtails can be seen distantly on the drier edges of wet grassland. A cuckoo has been seen flying over the reedbed a couple of times in recent days, whilst this warm weather has brought the first glimpses of hobby for the year.
As the weather continues to warm we'll start to see more of the brilliant butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies that thrive on the reserve, not to mention the common lizards lounging on wooden fence rails! If you haven't been to the reserve recently, it's a prime time for another look with all this activity going on; and even if you come regularly, you never know what will turn up one day to the next. See you all down here sometime soon!