It’s been another brilliant week with lots of fabulous wildlife sightings here on the reserve. The weather may not always have been quite so pleasant, but nature always knows how to get by under such conditions and we’ve seen plenty of activity around the site.
As ever, our Otters continue to delight visitors on a daily basis, with Causeway and Lilian’s hides being the most consistent locations in recent days. Red Deer too, may be spotted resting up in the reeds or grazing around the edges of Grisedale as the pools teem with dazzling ducks including Pintail, Shoveler, Teal, Goldeneye and Gadwall.
Bitterns and Water Rails continue to be seen most days, thanks the high water levels. Thankfully the paths are mostly accessible with decent waterproof footwear, though wellies are definitely advised if heading down to Lower Hide!
Thrush activity around the orchard and centre car park has been stunning with hordes of hungry Fieldfares, Redwings and Blackbirds feasting on the hawthorn berries and apples. And we were visited once again by Waxwings on Tuesday – a flock of around 30 of these nifty Nordic nomads dropped in briefly. (Fieldfare and Redwing photos by Jarrod Sneyd)
Elsewhere, at least six Marsh Harriers are being seen on the reserve regularly and once again the somewhat elusive female Hen Harrier put in a couple of appearances in recent days.
As is typical at this time of year, we keep being asked about Starling murmurations. And as is equally typical for this time of year, we are not really seeing much murmurating, although large numbers are roosting with us on the reserve. We most often see proper big displays of murmurating birds from mid-Jan onwards but even so the sheer sight of tens of thousands of birds streaming clamorously into the reedbed at dusk is genuinely awesome.
For anyone planning a festive over the festive period, please note the changes to our regular hours:
Christmas Eve we close early at 3pm
Christmas Day we are CLOSED (this includes all car parks, hides, visitor centre, etc)
New Year’s Eve we close early at 3pm
Otherwise, we remain open as usual throughout.
We would like to wish all our visitors, supporters and volunteers a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Jon