RSPB Mersehead blog 22^nd - 28^th April 2023

Mersehead was a buzz of excitement on Monday, with the first fluffly balls of the year seen wandering around the fields! These were of course not actual fluffy balls, but our much anticipated, newly hatched Lapwing chicks. 

Over the last month, several members of the conservation team have been monitoring Lapwing nests in the fields, to assess how successful their breeding season…

RSPB Mersehead blog 15th - 21st April 2023

What a week it’s been at Mersehead: a cacophony of Natterjack Toads can be heard most evenings, the noise carrying easily across the reserve to the main farm buildings; the Swallows are back swooping around the Sulwath Centre; the reedbed has come alive with ‘warbles’ and I am awaiting the emergence of the Badger cubs.  The hope is that some trail camera footage…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 8 – 13 April 2023

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times:  it’s an absolute privilege to be able spend a couple of hours at dawn walking along the Mersehead reedbed rides, hearing the first Sedge Warblers arrive back from their wintering grounds in Africa and joining the Willow Warbler, Reed Bunting and – the main focus of our visit – the Water Rail. Breeding pairs of…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 1^st – 7^th April 2023

It has been a week of two halves on the Solway, with driving rain turning to dazzling sunshine and blue skies. Spring is starting to unfurl across the reserve with more wildflowers blooming and the first butterflies on the wing with Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Small White seen this week.

Small Tortoiseshell. Photo credit: R. Chambers

A herald of spring is the Lesser…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 25^th – 31^st March 2023

At this time of year, the reserve is bursting with life and activity, with natterjack toads emerging from their winter hibernation, lapwings starting to nest and the dusk chorus of birds ever present all around the reserve. Our team of wardens and residential volunteers have been conducting surveys to help monitor the populations of these fascinating creatures and ensure…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 18th - 24th March 2023

The weather has proved both a help and a hinderance to residents of all sorts here at Mersehead R.S.P.B. this week. The wintry conditions seemed to be abating, with temperatures generally rising and signs of spring in abundance. But, in swept a significant amount of rain and wind, couple this with a high spring tide mid-week and that’s a recipe for a spot of flooding.

RSPB Mersehead Blog 11^th – 17^th March 2023

The weather has continued to feel not particularly spring-like, with cold temperatures and even some light dusting of snow earlier this week, turning into rainy, wet conditions later on the week. While all the rain means the access road has unfortunately flooded some days, its good weather for the toads as the rain helps to fill up the breeding pools for the natterjacks who…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 4^th – 10^th March 2023

The first half of the week continued the Spring like feel that was highlighted in last week’s blog.  The hedgerows have been alive with activity, and some (notably a pair of Blue Tits in the Sulwath Garden) have started checking out the available real estate; popping in and out of the plentiful nest boxes dotted across the reserve.  Eagle-eyed visitors will notice a number…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 25^th February – 3^rd March 2023

Volunteers from Mersehead were out completing the national Beached Bird Survey over the weekend. This is one of the UK’s longest running citizen science projects having started 50-years ago. Initially launched to monitor chronic oil pollution, this survey gives scientists an insight into the causes of seabird deaths. With the beautiful weather, it was a stunning…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 18^th - 24^th February 2023

Welcome to the latest Mersehead blog, where the winter season is slowly coming to an end and the promise of spring is just around the corner. As the days begin to lengthen and the weather slowly starts to warm up, the reserve's habitats are starting to come alive with an array of stunning flora. Look out for the delicate white flowers of the snowdrop which can be found carpeting…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 11^th - 17^th February 2023

It’s hard not to mention the onset of spring at the moment, with the sight of snowdrops peeking up from the ground and the sound of birds singing filling the air. In particular it has been lovely to hear the musical notes of the Skylarks while out in the fields at Mersehead this week as they show off their distinctive flight pattern.

While maybe less musical than the songbirds…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 4^th February – 10^th February 2023

In the Celtic calendar spring starts on February 1^st, halfway between the winter and summer solstices. The festival celebrating the advent of spring and the end of the long night was known as Imbolc, and is still celebrated as St Brigid’s day in Ireland. When my fellow residential volunteer told me that spring began in February in Ireland I was confused, but now…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 28^th January – 3^rd February 2023

Whilst still winter, signs of early spring are starting to emerge at Mersehead with the recent milder weather. This last week has seen the start of songbirds like great tits and song thrushes try out their mating calls and songs, filling the air with melodic trills and chirps. Whilst on the ponds, teal have been seen practicing their iconic displays, flapping their…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 21^st – 27^th January 2023

This weekend is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and Mersehead is one of the reserves being live streamed over the weekend. You can check out the action at the visitor centre bird feeders live from 9am on Saturday here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQY4ZFLiGnw, or have a look at some footage from earlier in the week here https://www.facebook.com/TheRSPB/live_videos/?ref…

RSPB Mersehead Sightings 16th – 20th January 2023

It has been a cold week here at Mersehead and our wetland birds have been struggling to find any wet land with most of the reserve being frozen over. Despite the freezing conditions, our volunteers have been out in the first beach clean of the year.

Beach cleaning. Photo credit J. Lister

In exciting news, a White-Tailed Eagle has been spotted on the reserve! The…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 7^th – 13^th January 2023

It’s been a wet and windy week at Mersehead , and with the water table so high, and the road once again flooded, the Wetlands were bucking the trend at the start of the week by looking surprisingly dry.  Whilst this meant the ducks were huddled far away at the back of the field, it illustrates the amount of control we have over the water levels on the wetlands, even…

RSPB Mersehead Sightings 1^st – 6^th January 2023

The first working day of 2023 was bright, sunny, and cold with a thin layer of ice covering the wetlands. A total of seven wildfowl species have been spotted this week snoozing and diving in the limited open water: Shoveler, Pintail, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall and Tufted Duck. Little Grebe was present whilst Water Rail has been heard squealing from the depths of the reedbed…

RSPB Mersehead Blog  10^th – 16^th December 2022

The freezing temperatures have left Mersehead looking like a winter wonderland this week. With the beautiful sight of glistening frost coating the reserve it is lovely to be outside, although necessary to wrap up warm! 

Mersehead looked like a winter wonderland this week! Photo credit S.Doyle

Frozen webs and wetlands from the Bruaich hide. Photo credit S. Doyle

A robin…

RSPB Mersehead Blog  3^rd – 9^th December 2022

With temperatures dipping below freezing for much of the week, the main objective has been keeping warm whilst we look to progress the Winter work program of habitat management and infrastructure maintenance work.

The weekend volunteers, led by George, have done an excellent job in coppicing willow from behind the polytunnel.  The younger, more flexible branches were then…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 26^th November – 2^nd December 2022

With the footpath through the woodland to the beach complete, our Tuesday volunteer group headed down to the beach for a litter pick this week. With large tides hitting the sand dunes last week the inevitable deluge of plastic had followed.

Some of the more unusual items discovered where a floodlight, platypus and a Welsh independence sticker!

At first glance…

RSPB Mersehead Blog: 19^th – 25^th November 2022

It's been an exciting week for the staff and volunteers at Mersehead as we're pleased to announce the re-opening of the woodland path that leads to the beach! After several months of hard toil, sweat, and our very resolute Tuesday and Saturday volunteer work parties, the final touches have now been completed to the path. The completion of the woodland path to the beach…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 12th-18th November 2022

After all the rain last week it was nice to have some fine weather for our wetland bird surveys (WeBS) at Kirconnell on Saturday and Mersehead on Monday. One of the highlights at Kirconnell was the winter’s first count of Goldeneye, while at Mershead the wetlands are looking fantastic, especially from Bruaich hide where over 700 Teal, 250 Lapwing, 57 Pintail, 330 Wig…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 5th-11th November 2022

It has been a wet and windy week at Mersehead, and thanks to over 50mm of rain from Saturday to Tuesday, the access road to Mersehead was once again flooded for several days. Waders were a necessity to get in and out of the reserve at the highest points, and our tree safety officer bravely waded through the flood to carry out our yearly review. As of Thursday, the access road…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 29^th October- 4^th November 2022

It has been a wetter than average October in the area this year, with over 150mm or rain falling during the month.  More wet weather this week (with Wednesday being particularly grim thanks to heavy rain and 50mph winds), has made for some challenging working conditions but has left the Mersehead Wetlands looking fabulous.  This in turn has lead to an explosion in waterfowl…

RSPB Mersehead Blog 22nd - 28th October 2022

Our Tuesday Volunteer group have been kept busy nutrient stripping the wildflower meadows this week. Once a year, the meadows are cut after the flowers have set seed. The vegetation then needs to be removed so that the nutrients do not return to the soil as wildflowers thrive in nutrient poor soils.

Autumn is the time to look for Waxcaps. Known as “waxcap grassland fungi” this…