It’s been a frustrating week or so at Burton Mere Wetlands, with freezing temperatures meaning some quiet days on the water due to being frozen. However a full thaw on Monday led to a fantastic array of water birds on show across the reserve today.
On arrival at the Reception Hide this morning, a carpet of wigeon was grazing the islands on the main scrape – as many as 500, an excellent number for this part of the reserve. Loafing and feeding across the water were good numbers of teal, shoveler, shelduck and mallard, whilst a small number of the latter three plus tufted duck could be seen well at closer range on Reception Pool.
There was also a nice variety of wading birds on and around the scrape, with curlews probing the freshly-thawed ground, whilst black-tailed godwits and a small number of dunlins were feeding across the mud. Big flocks of lapwings were shifted around all day between the scrape and wet grassland, unsettled by the regular marsh harriers and sparrowhawk which at one point this morning came to rest on one of the scrape islands. Hen harriers – both ringtail and adult male – have been daily sightings recently, whilst peregrine and merlin have both made occasional appearances.
Marsh harrier by Sam Ryley
As well as the flocks of lapwings, several hundred pink-footed geese regularly moved around the wet grassland and in and out from the saltmarsh. Other highlights from Reception Hide today were a water rail flying across Reception Pool a couple of times and simultaneously a female goldeneye landing briefly in the same place before flying onto the scrape with the large wildfowl flocks. Two Bewick’s swans briefly landed on the scrape before returning to the mixed flock with mute and whooper swans on Shotwick Field West.
It was a very good day around the Marsh Covert hide, with water pipit, jack snipe, kingfisher and Cetti’s warbler all seen, plus nice views of redshank feeding close on the flooded grassland along with more of the same wildfowl as on the main scrape.
From the Inner Marsh Farm hide, highlights were the odd ruff with a couple of dozen dunlin, a single green sandpiper and close views of black-tailed godwit still enjoying the muddy reprofiled edge from the work in August.
It’s not all about the hides though, with plenty to enjoy from out on the trails at this time of year. Visitors have had regular grey wagtail views along the Burton Mere trail and even in the car park, with treecreeper also showing well in the same area. The farmland areas are busy with flocks of linnets, reed buntings plus the odd redwing and fieldfare. Green woodpeckers are still best seen on the Hillfort trail, whilst time spent scouring the marsh from the top of Burton Point can yield sightings of great white egret, short-eared owl and raven.
The long-eared owl is proving elusive but keen-eyed visitors have been able to locate it most days in bramble on the railway embankment beside the Inner Marsh Farm trail. Stonechat, siskin, bullfinch, goldcrest and even a single firecrest have been other highlights in the trees along the trails.
So, plenty of good reasons to pay a visit to Burton Mere Wetlands even on a grey, cold December day. You don’t even have to go further than the Reception Hide to see most of what the reserve has to offer at the moment, and the wood pellet stove and hot drinks can lift the mood plus we have mince pies on offer throughout December!
There’s Festive Fun for families all month, and a guided walk at the Point of Ayr on Saturday 17 December for the more adventurous, with potential to see spectacular flocks of pintails, curlews and oystercatchers at high tide. Click the links for full details and hopefully see you down at the reserve very soon.