Sitting here writing in the pouring rain, it's not just some of the birds that are beginning to give the impression of autumn. After the glorious heatwave which took us up to the solstice, we've had almost a week's worth of showers and again some stiff breezes that hardly feel like June.

Yet just as we were getting a taste of hot summer, some of the birds were beginning to behave like autumn is on the horizon…

Assistant Warden John fills us in on his recent work and wildlife highlights:

The past two or three weeks have thrown some strange, unseasonable weather at us. A cool, windy start to the month left us asking "where has the summer gone?"; Burton Mere Wetlands even had to close one day due to high winds, and I definitely didn’t decide to write this blog to dodge another very heavy shower!

It has undoubtedly…

I know Dan released the news a couple of weeks a go about our exciting new breeders for the reserve, but I thought i'd give a quick update on progress and how our other herons have got on this year.

Firstly, the cattle egrets: They're still feeding chick(s) - it's difficult to say for sure exactly how many chicks they've got, but there is certainly one, and it is still being looked after diligently by it's parents…

If you’ve visited Burton Mere Wetlands in the past couple of weeks, you’ll know there’s a whole host of baby birds hatching around the reserve, from stars like the stunning, showy avocets to the more obscure, elusive songbirds like blackcaps – not to mention plenty of the common and familiar faces many of which you might also find in your garden.

However one family that’s been particularly active…

This time of year is very busy for the wardening staff with regular surveys being carried out across the site. We regularly monitor numbers of breeding waders and warblers here on the Dee Estuary which means a lot of walking early in the morning. If you do see a tired-looking warden, please be friendly!

One of the areas I survey for breeding waders is at the rear of the Ministry of Defence firing range that can be seen…

Hello everyone!

I hope y’all have been enjoying our lovely sunny and warm weather recently with hardly any rain! It’s been a great few weeks here at Chez Burton Mere with lots and lots of spring/summer migrants and the odd surprise or two. As these sightings have been covered in other people’s posts I won’t delve too much into that, so instead I’m going to have a natter about my own wanderings on the reserve…

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…

So the spring has crept up on us and is now in full swing! Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs singing everywhere you go, bluebells are up in the woodland and even the first butterflies of the year are enjoying the sun (plenty of Orange Tips around the reserve).

Bluebell carpet (A.Grubb)

As you might expect, when the birds start to get down on nests, our jobs shift from a more practical management focus, to more of a surveying…

Last Thursday was the 10 year anniversary of the only modern day record of a white-tailed eagle on the Dee Estuary and Wirral, which led to Site Manager Colin Wells getting sentimental and digging out his exciting account of what turned out to be a "very good Friday" that Easter weekend. Originally published in Birding North West magazine, we thought it would make an ideal blog, so here it is in its original, unedited…

Oh hello there wonderful people!

First of all, sorry about the title. I was sitting here trying to think of a play on words for 'avocet' but fell short of anything remotely decent. Then I was sitting here (again), thinking about how awesome it would be to have a movie named after this dashing, yet quarrelsome bird.

"The Avocet"

Boom!

Would it be a menacing horror with a killer tagline? A comedy…

The change from winter to spring is by far my favourite time of year. It gives me a sense of excitement thinking about new beginnings associated with the arrival of migrating birds, the emergence of fresh green leaves, and spring lambs jumping excitedly across local fields. As Al mentioned in his recent blog, our tenant farmer has taken some of his ewes off the saltmarsh for lambing which makes me think spring is in the…

This time last week we were still reeling from the impact of one of the worst storms to hit these parts in recent memory. Doris, in fact, led to the first ever weather-induced closure of Burton Mere Wetlands as the site was unsafe to allow public access with pieces of tree, small and large, raining down around the car park even from first light with the brunt of the winds still to come.

The decision not to open was certainly…

I’m usually confined to a tractor or waist deep in a ditch, but you'll start to hear a bit more of what’s been happening on the reserve and what jobs we’ve been doing. So going forward expect to see regular contributions from Colin (Site Manager), John (Assistant Warden) or myself; it’ll hopefully give you an insight into what goes…

As I write this with wind and rain pounding at the window it’s a stark reminder that despite the relatively settled Christmas and New Year weather, we’re a long way from the end of winter yet. However, that’s no bad thing given that this season offers arguably the greatest quantity and variety of birds on the reserve

The downside of this time of year is that there’s not often any new arrivals to report…

Happy New Year to you all! It’s been a busy week here at Burton Mere Wetlands with plenty of birders and families alike opting to take advantage of the fine weather and seek fresh air and freedom after the inevitable Christmas over-indulgences. As a result there have been lots of keen eyes to gather sightings from around the reserve, so it’s time for an update.

An exciting development of this winter is that…

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…

There’s been a similar feel to the sightings this past week as we move to the end of autumn and edge ever nearer to the short, cold days of winter. Still, the weather has been relatively kind and as a result plenty of visitors have delighted at seeing the long-eared owl, found roosting beside the Inner Marsh Farm trail most days in the past week.

Perhaps the biggest news is the herd of cattle were taken off the…

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…

Hi everyone!

No, I have not disappeared off the planet; it's all been a terrible rumour, probably started at one of those awful tabloid-type magazines. However, I'm back from all the red carpet events that I had to attend - listen, my life as a celebrity is quite tiring you know - but I've still got Victoria Beckham on the phone half the time wondering when we're going to have dinner together. I like her and everything…

Dee Estuary reserve Site Manager Colin here writes an account of his autumn excitement and bird counting exploits last month. As well as the usual suspects, it's been yet another brilliant month of surprises and broken records.

I always look forward to October. For me it means big tides and an opportunity to get some great counts of wildfowl on the reserve. In October last year we saw a record count of teal at Burton…

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…

Hello folks!

Well, after a blazing hot summer (haha – actually, it really wasn't that bad!), we are now sliding right into the autumnal months. Days are getting darker, with cold spells, and the marshmallows and sweet chestnuts are being toasted. Birders at Burton Mere Wetlands come billowing into the Reception Hide announcing things like “brrrrrrrrrrr, it's cold out there” and proceed to warm themselves at the fire…

Dee Estuary reserve volunteer, Tom, whets our appetite for the Wirral Wader Festival with this guest blog about the rich diversity of wading birds that we're lucky to see here in the UK, whilst offering a flavour of the insight he's always keen to share in his role as a hide volunteer every Sunday at Burton Mere Wetlands.

"Wetlands attract a unique mix of species that are adapted to extract food from water and…

This week has seen a definite change in the weather, but little change in birds around the reserve. The solitary cattle egret continued to please, spending its days loafing on the islands of the main scrape with brief forays to join the cattle herd. 

The big duck numbers from the beginning of the week gradually reduced as the tides dropped in height, but good numbers of teal remained on various pools. Along with small flocks…

Hi everyone, Paula here!

I realise that this blog is a little bit late, but please forgive me. I have been recently approached by many a Hollywood studio, who upon seeing how warmly received my blog is becoming, have decided to use my talents to write screenplays for big budget upcoming movies.

Not really, I'm just late. And I seem to have developed a massive ego also. Hmm. This time around, my blog post is dedicated…