It has been another fantastic week here at RSPB Mersehead, with clouds of geese frequently filling the sky, aerobatic flocks of lapwing, hoards of dabbling and diving ducks on the expanses of open water and busily twittering and flitting flocks of finches, tits and buntings in the fields and hedgerows.
Main highlights however have to be the recent footage caught on film of an otter, sightings of a single Lapland bunting, a chiffchaff in the woodland and a painted lady basking in the sunshine on the beach!
Otters are a bit of a rare sighting here at Mersehead so capturing one on film was fantastic! Partly a stroke of luck and partly some careful positioning of the camera based on observations of footprints and other signs of where one may be led to us capturing this brilliant footage!
Followers of our Facebook page will be aware of the recent sighting of a Lapland bunting, seen on a few occasions amongst mixed flocks of linnet and twite around the reserve. Lapland buntings are common wintering birds in the UK, mostly seen on the east coast from East Lothian right down to Kent but do on occasions pop up on the west coast when on passage from their arctic breeding areas.
Chiffchaffs, which normally migrate to the Mediterranean for the winter and are one of the first birds to arrive back in summer, occasionally do remain in the UK throughout the year. One such bird was seen recently in the strip of woodland that leads up to the Meida hide.
Chiffchaff - Photo credit: John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
Butterflies basking in the sunshine may seem much more like a scene you would be likely to see in the summer rather than the end of November but Painted Ladies can and do breed all year round in some parts of the continent and individuals do sometimes turn in autumn or mild winter months.
Painted lady – Photo credit: Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
Other sightings from around the reserve this week include a leucistic barnacle goose, frequent sightings of male and ringtail hen harrier, flocks of 30+ curlew, over 150 shelduck on the beach, a merlin catching a meadow pipit, 7 crossbill passing over, kestrel, buzzard and sparrowhawk.
Out from the hides there is the usual array of pintail, teal, tufted duck, mallard, goldeneye, wigeon, shoveler, little grebe and the occasional sighting of the green-winged teal.
Goldcrest has been seen in the woodlands and bullfinch and stonechat from the coastal trail. In the hedgerows and on the feeders there has been yellowhammer, great tit, coal tit, blue tit, tree sparrow, house sparrow, chaffinch, greenfinch and redpoll.
Bird food, Bird care and Optics Weekend
Don’t forget, this weekend coming (6th & 7th December) we will be welcoming our colleagues from RSPB Lochwinnoch who will be coming to Mersehead to sell bird food and bird care items as well as being on hand to advise you on binoculars and telescopes, let you try some out before buying them, either as a present for someone or as a well deserved gift for yourself!
Mulled Wine and Geese
On 13th & 17th December we will be leading guided walks to look at the geese and finishing up with a warm glass of mulled wine. Click here for more details.