It’s that time of year again when the days get ever shorter and the weather a little more unpredictable but the wildlife spectacle just gets better and better! It’s also the time of year when a lot of management work gets carried out on the reserve.
In preparation for the forthcoming opening of Burton Mere Wetlands' garden, myself and a team of volunteers have been busy installing some new hardcore and gravel paths. This involved a lot of digging out heavy clay by hand as well as borrowing several tonnes of gravel and stone. This work is now complete, but we are just waiting for a contractor to reinforce a raised section of path before we can open it for visitors to enjoy.
Recently it's been a great place to watch the daily egret roost with views of up to 10 great white egrets coming in as well as upwards of 60 little egrets in the trees around the Mere. Last week we even accidentally flushed a woodcock whilst we were working!
Volunteers busy as work - Image J Langley
Other work that has been going on includes mowing the remaining areas of the wet grassland which the now-departed cattle were unable to graze sufficiently to make them suitable for breeding waders, so have been done by tractor instead. Now that this is complete, we've adjusted the sluices to raise water levels in order to flood the grassland and attract even more wildfowl and waders onto the site. This is already the case on Bridge Pool where Al and I cleared the islands last week, closed the sluice pipes and already several hundred wigeon have been frequenting the water.
On Friday we welcomed a work party from M&S Bank, who helped us clear scrub between Bridge Pool and the Inner Marsh Farm trail. The cold weather meant that it was perfect to be loading a bonfire and we managed to get a lot of work completed with the group. They seemed to enjoy a day out of the office, and we enjoyed all the cake they brought with them! We even had a close fly past of a kingfisher, which are still showing well around the reserve, especially around the marsh covert hide. .
Marks and Spencers work party busy clearing scrub - Image J Langley
This time of year is crucial for getting to grips with the wildfowl and wader numbers across our reserves on the Dee and the Mersey estuaries. There has been an obvious increase in wildfowl between my monthly counts, with plenty of pintail, wigeon and pink-footed geese on the Dee marshes. During my last Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS count) I was on the outer marsh when approximately 2000 pink-footed geese flew over head, briefly turning the sky black overhead; it’s times like those when you just want to watch them all flying but remember you need to count them!
On the Mersey we have already counted 15000 dunlin and over 2000 redshank and expect more to arrive. During these counts the staff and volunteers who count in these remote places get treated to some very close views of birds including jack snipe, which only fly off if you’re about to step on them, short-eared owls and merlin, both of which are starting to arrive in larger numbers on the reserve, as are wintering swans. Whooper swans are numbering around 30 on the Dee at the moment and share their time between Burton Marsh, wet crop fields adjacent to Burton Mere Wetlands and, for the first time recently, grazing the barley crop stubble next to the wet grassland on the reserve along with the geese. All these numbers will likely increase over the coming days as this colder weather continues, and we will have more accurate figures after numbers from Sunday's last WeBS count for the year are collated.
Point of Ayr is currently brimming with waders and wildfowl during high tides. When I recently visited the site there were lots of wildfowl using the tidal creeks and thousands of oystercatchers leaving the roost site when I arrived. There have been reports of snow bunting on the coastline of the Wirral so it’s always worth scanning the strand line on the beach at Point of Ayr too. Last year there were five present at the site most of the winter. If you’re looking for something to do on a weekend with high tides why not pop down and chat to one of our volunteer wardens about what is around.
Oystercatchers at Point of Ayr - Image J Langley
Don't forget that Burton Mere Wetlands is open every day, offering close views of much of the estuary's fantastic winter birdlife. Even if the weather isn't great, there's always plenty to watch from the comfort of our heated Reception Hide, where you can also enjoy refreshments and the company of our friendly team!
Thank you for another interesting update, John. Good to know what is happening behind the scenes, and what birds to look out for on and around the reserve.