After the prolonged cold winter when the reserve was covered in snow and ice for days at a time, we were naturally worried that a lot of our resident birds would have succumbed. We feared our populations of insect-feeding Cetti's Warblers and Chiffchaffs could not have possibly survived with the reedbeds buried under snow for so long - but they certainly have. How did they manage that? The reserve is alive with bird song at the moment and not just from these two species. Reed and Sedge Warblers have now joined the latter, Swallows and Sand Martins are swooping over the pools and the Grey Herons all seem to have young in the nest. There are several broods of Mallard too.
The highlight for the late winter/early spring was the presence of up to five Bitterns and these really stole the show, being seen daily over the last three months, ever since New Year's Day . We still have two here at the time of writing but sadly no boomers - we assume these two are both females - so it doesn't look likely Cornwall will play host to its first ever breeding Bitterns this year.
In addition to the above species, the reserve has attracted some amazing birds over the last month. A vagrant Red-rumped Swallow from southern Europe lingered just for a day on 20th March but observers searching for that the following day found an Alpine Swift from Switzerland (or thereabouts) and this spent 4-5 days over the marsh before last being seen on 25th. A Great Egret from continental Europe turned up on 9th April in one of the pools we created in the main reedbed during the winter but in spite of its enormous size, it spent a lot of time hidden there and gave many visitors the run around! It stayed three days - our first ever to settle here. On 17th April, a Savi's Warbler was heard "reeling" in the main reedbed at dawn, our first for 30 years. More commonly found in eastern Europe, this has proved incredibly difficult to actually see but it is still here as I write this three days later. Yesterday, 18th April, whilst looking for that, birdwatchers saw a Spotted Crake, another incredible British rarity and only our second ever spring record here. A Little Ringed Plover and Yellow Wagtail were also discovered, both uncommon regionally. Put alongside the flock of 80 Sand Martins, Swallows and House Martins feeding overhead, Marazion Marsh is certainly the place to be at the moment. And Spring has barely started....
Site Manager, Cornwall reserves