Any visitors to the hides at Mersehead over the last few days will have noticed the wetland is more of an ice sheet at the moment. With the vast majority of the open water covered with a layer of ice the ducks have largely been forced in to the only open bit of water which is located out from the Meida hide. This has made is easier to see large numbers of pintail, teal, shoveler and a few wigeon, mallard and gadwall. Not so easy to spot is the green winged teal amongst the hordes of native teal but with a scope and a bit of patience you stand a good chance of picking it out. With so many mouths to feed and so little space to go round it is not surprising that many of the pintail, teal and other ducks are also making use of the wet grassland and stubble fields just beyond the woodland strip.
Wigeon - Photo credit: John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
As you approach the Meida hide, just prior to the access ramp, a water rail has often been heard producing its distinctive squeal like alarm call and has even been seen by a fortunate few. Also near this spot is a tree to the left of the hide with a bird box on the trunk, near the top of the trunk is a very neat looking hole. Around dusk a number of wrens have been seen flying in to this hole to communally roost. It is not clear how many there are using this hole but it could easily be in double figures. As one of the smallest birds in the UK it is not surprising that these normally very territorial birds will huddle up together in confined spaces to share body heat in the colder months and often make use of bird boxes for this purpose. Amazingly a record breaking 63 wrens have been recording sharing a single bird box!
Wren - Photo credit: John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
Other sightings in the narrow strip of woodland leading to the Meida hide include a goldcrest and a flock of long-tailed tits. Elsewhere there have been around 250 linnet recorded during a survey of the reserve in various flocks, 2 male bullfinches outside the Sulwath centre, 2 little egrets in the fields near the beach, stonechat and reed bunting on rainbow lane and mistle thrush in the field to the south of the path between the Sulwath centre and woodland.
From the visitor centre there has been the usual myriad of chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, dunnock, yellowhammer, blackbird, tree sparrow, house sparrow, blue tit, great tit, coal tit and pheasant.
This coming weekend is of course Big Garden Bird Watch weekend, one of the world's largest citizen science projects. For more information click here