The days may be getting ever shorter but there’s certainly no shortage of birds to marvel at. The wader migration is all but over (though having said that there has still been the odd curlew sandpiper and ruff in the past few days), and the flocks of ducks, geese and wading birds now dominate the pools at Burton Mere Wetlands.
Black-tailed godwit and lapwing are the perhaps the most notorious and numerous, with occasional handfuls of dunlin and knot venturing in from the outer estuary especially around big tides (more on those later!). Meanwhile over 50 golden plovers and 17 curlews along with a single green sandpiper have been the highlights of the waders. Several dozen snipe can regularly be counted dotted around the islands and edges of pools for the keen-eyed visitors to find.
Onto the wildfowl and we’ve had 150 or so wigeon grazing the recently mown wet grassland areas close to the main scrape, whilst some teal and shoveler are getting bolder (or colder?) and moving into closer proximity, on Reception Pool and Burton Mere. Pintails are best seen on the days of the spring high tides and a couple of days after, when upwards of 1000 can usually be seen at close range from the Bridge Screen.
Pink-footed geese, along with greylags and smaller numbers of Canada geese regularly shift across the skyline between water, grassland, farmland and the marsh, a sight and sound that epitomises winter on the Dee. A growing swan flock appears almost glued to Shotwick Fields West, between Shotwick boating lake and the southerly border of Burton Mere Wetlands. Clearly enjoying the barley crop being grown there, the numbers have so far exceeded 50 birds with a peak of 27 whoopers and three Bewick’s with the remainder being mutes.
The bird crop fields and surrounding farmland have started to attract flocks of linnets, reed buntings, redwings and fieldfares, whilst the willow scrub along the Inner Marsh Farm trail has been good for the occasional bullfinch and goldcrest plus siskins. The feeders by the barn at the south end of the Burton Mere loop are attracting growing numbers of greenfinch, goldfinch and even the odd tree sparrow, whilst stonechats, kingfisher and Cetti’s warblers are other stars being regularly reported across the reserve.
Linnet by John Hewitt
Up to three water pipits were feeding on the wet grassland on the north side of the Marsh Covert hide for a few days last week, whilst one was seen by the barn over the weekend.
As per previous winters, a water rail has started showing on the edge of Reception Pool immediately beneath the Reception Hide windows, and will no doubt become a staple and visitor favourite over the coming weeks.
Another recent development is the formation of a modest starling roost – only a few hundred for now, but previous years have seen it build to a couple of thousand – gathering on the scrape islands from about 3.30 pm before swirling their way into the reedbed to roost.
Marsh harriers continue to show daily, sometimes up to four at a time, with one of the ringtail hen harriers now venturing in from the saltmarsh to hunt the grassland and farmland along with an occasional short-eared owl. Speaking of owls, on Friday a long-eared owl was found roosting in scrub very close to the location of the last two winters, just outside the wet woodland on the Inner Marsh Farm trail.
The growing significance of the site for egrets was covered in Paula’s blog on Sunday as well as Colin’s from the week before, but the six cattle egrets and 12 great whites are still present, the former showing well even from Reception most of the time, the latter usually requiring a bit more effort and patience scouring the saltmarsh.
I touched upon high tides earlier, and the last two 10 metre tides of the autumn are taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week – full details here. We’ll be at the Old Baths car park at Parkgate, but due to unforeseen circumstances we will not be manning the Donkey Stand as we usually do. That also means this week should offer great opportunity to see the aforementioned large numbers of pintail at Burton Mere Wetlands; certainly worth making the effort to see such a stunning duck, and one with a special link to the Dee as the estuary supports the greatest wintering number in the UK.
Another upcoming event at Burton Mere Wetlands is our Trees and Fungi guided walk, in celebration of National Tree Week. Full details can be found here. Also, if you’ve not tried our catering van already, consider leaving your packed lunch at home and treat yourself to something hot and fresh – available Wednesday to Sunday, but Chris has kindly offered to also come in on Tuesday this week due to the high tide event.
Hope that all whets your appetite for another visit to the reserve soon!