A slightly overdue sightings round-up, but that just means all the more goodness to cram in to get you updated. The title is a giveaway but we've seen the first few whooper swans - three adults and three juveniles - arrive back at Burton Mere Wetlands last week, and whilst there may have been two ringtail hen harriers on the estuary for a couple of months, they were joined by a grey male in the last fortnight. The male showed itself wonderfully - along with at least two short-eared owls - during the second of two Parkgate High Tide Watch events on Monday and Tuesday last week, and has reportedly been seen well since then throughout the day and going in to their roost near the Old Baths car park. Bodes well for our next Raptor Watch on Sunday 30 October, and the next High Tide Watch events in mid-November.
Following on from our summer of spoonbill fever, we now have a different white long-legged bird trying to steal the show; five, yes FIVE cattle egrets have set up home at Burton Mere Wetlands. A single bird arrived in mid-September, delighting and amusing visitors with it's flighty behaviour in amongst the cattle herd around the main scrape and wet grassland. A month later, another four appeared and spend a lot of their time in close view of the Reception Hide. In recent days they've even been seen perched on the cows' backs! How much longer they will stay is anybody's guess, so get down soon to see them if you haven't already! Not to be outdone are the little egrets, with numbers building around the wetlands for the roost from mid-afternoon onwards. We've also seen an influx of great white egrets, with up to eight present, mostly on the saltmarsh during daylight but roosting in Marsh Covert with their cousins.
Five cattle egrets by Paul Brady
Another familiar sign of autumn is the growing sight - and musical sound - of the pink-footed geese, with over 2000 now on the estuary, and fantastic to watch shifting around between the saltmarsh, wet grassland, neighbouring farmland and the main scrape. Other wildfowl continually grow in number with over 5000 teal and 1300 pintail across the pools at Burton Mere Wetlands last week when the high tides flooded them off the saltmarsh, plus small flocks of shoveler, wigeon, gadwall, mallard, tufted duck and a single female pochard which is a rarity here.
There's still been a decent variety of wading birds, with curlew sandpiper, ruff, up to five green sandpipers, spotted redshank, up to 40 knot, golden plover, and well over 100 snipe counted recently. The wardens have recently cut the vegetation on the scrape islands, reedbed and pool edges, meaning increased visibility of birds from the Reception Hide, notably water rail and kingfisher around Reception Pool.
Other recent highlights have been the odd grey wagtail around the old fishery ponds, Cetti's warbler heard and seen both at the Reedbed screen and near the Inner Marsh Farm hide, plus goldcrest in the trees near the latter. Green woodpecker continue to be seen and heard along the Hillfort trail whilst flocks of linnet, reed buntings and starlings and pairs of stonechat are growing in number around the farmland and wet grassland areas.
The unseasonably mild and settled weather means there's no better time to get down to Burton Mere Wetlands and witness the superb array of wild birds right under your nose! Plus don't forget we are currently trialling a mobile catering unit on site, meaning if you visit from Wednesday to Sunday you can pick up some lunch - hot and cold sandwiches, soup or a burger - in the car park. The feedback so far has been very positive, so why not give it a try?!