Ribble Estuary

Welcome to this weeks Ribble roundup, which as the title suggests has been a wild and windy week. 

The Ribble Discovery Centre welcomed their first school visit of the new year on a very blustery day!  The Year 2 class from Strike Lane Primary School Completed the Plant Detectives session in the secret garden, it was quite a challenge in the wind, but, one I suspect many of the children will not forget.  The children were…

Welcome to this week's Ribble roundup.

We are still eagerly awaiting more followers for our new Facebook and Twitter pages.  Please share, so we can reach out to as many people in the area as we can.

Facebook: RSPBRibbleEstuary

Twitter: @RSPB_Ribble

Ribble Discovery Centre

After the success of the feeders we have had in the "Secret Garden" at Fairhaven Lake, we have placed a feeding station near the centre of the park…

Love My Marsh Event 

Clearing waste from Marshside is an ongoing battle, with waste from the sea and river collecting in the saltmarsh on falling tides, as well as litter being thrown from cars along the roads. Fly-tipping is also becoming a more frequent issue.   

Despite the inclement weather, we had a hardy gang of folk make a difference on the saltmarsh at Marshside last weekend. Togged up to the hilt and pickers in…

Welcome to this weeks Ribble Roundup

Not only do we have our new Facebook page @RSPBRibbleEstuary, we also have our own Twitter page too @RSPB_Ribble.  Please like and share our pages, we are really looking forward to engaging with as many of you as possible and providing lots of information about our work in conservation and education around the estuary. We look forward to welcoming many visitor contributions on both channels…

Welcome to this weeks Ribble Roundup 

Not only do we have our new Facebook page @RSPBRibbleEstuary, we also have our own Twitter page too @RSPB_Ribble.  Please like and share our pages, we are really looking forward to engaging with as many of you as possible and providing lots of information about our work in conservation and education around the estuary. We look forward to welcoming many visitor contributions on both…

Welcome to this weeks Ribble Roundup 13/01/20

Please like and follow our new Facebook page @RSPBRibbleEstuary.  We are really looking forward to increasing our followers and providing lots of information about our work across the estuary.  We are also looking forward to welcoming many visitor contributions, there are so many talented photographers out there, you can truly showcase our sites.

Recent sightings around Fairhaven…

Keen eyed visitors will have spotted the 'One Wing Amongst Many' sculpture that has appeared on the cross bank between Hesketh Out Marsh West and East. 

The skyline breaking wing stands to thank FCC Communities Foundation for supporting our work on the realignment of the East wing of Hesketrh Out Marsh. If the sculpture seems familiar, you may have seen the rest of the set one the Fairhaven Discovery Trail, near…

Ribble Reserves Roundup w/c 06/01/20

The Ribble reserves blog combines new from all our Ribble Estuary sites: Marshide, Hesketh out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre at Fairhaven Lake.  Providing the latest news on sightings, events, shop offers and educational visits.

Fistly, welcome to 2020, we are aiming for this year to be even better than ever.  

Fresh for 2020, we will now have a specific Ribble Estuary Facebook…

Happy New Year

As we step into a new year, we reflect on what 2019 brought us, and think about what 2020 has in store.

Last years theme was a Bigger Better and more Connected Ribble, and we took some giant steps in that direction. Bringing the estuary, its remaining and new saltmarshes/coastal grassland into conservation management, maximising its potential to support wintering and breeding wildlife is at the heart of…

Ribble Reserves Round-up w/c 16/12/19

The Ribble Reserves blog combines news from all our Ribble reserve sites; Marshide, Hesketh out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre. Providing the latest information on sightings, events, shop offers and educational visits.

Marshside - Christmas do 

As if by pre-arrangement, our volunteers meeting for the Christmas get together were greeted by a purple heron. The bird - discovered…

Ribble Reserves Blog w/c 09/12/19

The Ribble reserves blog combines news from all of our Ribble sites:  Marshside, Hesketh Out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre.  Providing the latest information on sightings, shop offers and educational visits.

Ribble Discovery Centre

It's been a wild and windy couple of daydown here on Fairhaven Lake.  Good weather for ducks you might say!  Which is lucky as there are loads of them…

Ribble Reserves Blog w/c 02.12.19

The Ribble Reserves blog combines news from all our Ribble reserve sites; Marshide, Hesketh out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre. Providing the latest information on sightings, events, shop offers and educational visits

Black Redstart - Banks Marsh 

This bonnie start has been bobbing around Banks Marsh (Ribble NNR) cattle pen over the frosty days. This is quite a scarce visitor locally…

Ribble Reserves Blog w/c 25.11.19

The Ribble Reserves blog combines news from all our Ribble reserve sites; Marshide, Hesketh out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre. Providing the latest information on sightings, events, shop offers and educational visits.

Ribble Discovery Centre

With thanks to our friends at the Fylde Bird Club we note that 4 ring necked parakeets have been observed in Stanley Park in Blackpool again…

Ribble Reserves Blog w/c 18.11.19

The Ribble Reserves blog combines news from all our Ribble reserve sites; Marshide, Hesketh out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre. Providing the latest information on sightings, events, shop offers and educational visits.

Ribble Wide WeBS Count

Wetland Birds Surveys (WeBS) counts are conducted nationally, once a month throughout the UK. Over 3,000 volunteers contribute to the survey…

Ribble Reserves Blog w/c 11.11.19

Our new Ribble Reserves blog combines news from all our Ribble reserve sites; Marshide, Hesketh out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre, providing you with all the latest up to date information about sightings, events, shop offers and educational visits.

Ribble Discovery Centre

Success! The Fairhaven Lake kingfisher no longer eludes himself from the us at the RSPB Ribble Discovery Centre…

Ribble Reserves blog w/c 04.11.19

Our new Ribble Reserves blog combines news from all of our RSPB Ribble estuary sites; Marshside, Hesketh Out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre providing you with all the latest up to date information about sightings, events, shop offers and educational visits!

Ribble Discovery Centre

The kingfisher continues to be spotted flitting over the lake, it continues to evade us in the centre…

Ribble Reserves Roundup w/c 28.10.19

Our new Ribble Reserves blog combines news from all of our RSPB Ribble estuary sites; Marshside, Hesketh Out Marsh and the Ribble Discovery Centre providing you with all the latest up to date information about sightings, events, shop offers and educational visits!

Ribble Discovery Centre

It's been a cold crisp week here at Fairhaven Lake.  Many of our regular residents and visitors…

The Ribble Estuary is vast, stretching from Lytham St Annes on the north side, down to Southport on the south side. Between the two, the great expanse of marvellous mudflats and saltmarsh are a vital home for nature. 

Mud might not sound particularly appetising to us, but it's crucial for quarter of a million birds that are drawn in by it every year. Ribble mud is a canteen - it is packed full of cockles and shrimps and l

Thanks to funding from Biffa Award, we are taking even more birds under our wing on the Ribble Estuary after recently purchasing Crossens Inner Marsh, a wet grassland area adjacent to Marshside.

The marsh, which is already home to over-wintering birds such as wigeons, pink-footed geese, black-tailed godwits and golden plovers, covers an area about the size of 38 football pitches.

Over £464,000 funding from Biffa Award…

Whilst Rimmer's marsh is completely dry we have closed Nel's hide. We are taking this opportunity to make some repairs in the hide and give it a repaint.

We will be re-opening the hide within the next couple of weeks at the end of the school holidays. Hopefully this will coincide with some water and returning wintering bird species like wigeons, teal, pink feet and godwits!

Sandgrounder's hide is still open, as…

This is a blog about the happenings and sightings at RSPB Marshside, a nature reserve on the Ribble estuary near Southport. 

It’s been a busy spring and summer season so far – with lots of work being done by our warden team and volunteers to maintain the anti-predator fence around Sutton’s marsh.  The fence works by excluding foxes and badgers from the reserve, in order to protect ground nesting birds…

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog and there has been all kinds going on.......the breeding season is now in full swing. Lapwing have been nesting around the reserve, they have been quite early this year so keep your eyes peeled for their downy chicks wandering around the marshes pecking at everything they come across. Avocet have also taken up residence outside of Sandgrounder’s hide, giving possibly…

Our summer visitors are continuing to return in large numbers to Marshside - the last week has seen wheatear, sand martin, house martin and swallow making a comeback along with a few of our favorite warblers......chiffchaff, blackcap and willow warbler have all been seen (or heard) around the reserve.

It was a slightly overcast day when I found the time to see what's been about, once again there were plenty of pink…

I'm going to start this weeks blog by giving a mention to our early emerging butterflies, I spotted two species while I was out on the marsh this afternoon - Glorious sunshine possibly bringing them out of hibernation.

The first was a peacock butterfly, unmistakable with it's menacing eyes shining brightly in the sun....

Peacock butterfly by Barry Smith

And the second was a number of small tortoiseshell feeding…

The most exciting time of the year is upon us and the movement is on.........the departure of our winter visitors is underway and the summer migrants are beginning to appear - along with numerous early flying bees and butterflies. 

Colt's foot is starting to push it's way through bringing a splash of yellow around the reserve and avocet numbers are continuing to increase, with around 50 currently dividing their t…