Mersehead Recent Sightings 15th -21st October
The highlight of the week has to be the great grey shrike. The bird was reported to the Visitor Centre late Tuesday afternoon in the gorse bushes along Rainbow Lane. The next morning it was discovered roosting in the gorse bushes before it then flew to the top of a hawthorn bush on the merse. It then spent the morning working its way up and down the line of hawthorns.
Wednesday morning was the co-ordinated barnacle goose survey and we recorded a total of 10,073 barnacle geese on Mershead and West Preston. Amongst all of these barnacle geese was one snow goose.
Photo credit: E.Neilson
The reserve count this week recorded good numbers of wildfowl with 107 canada geese, 16 greylag, 14 whooper swans and 2 mute swans recorded. Duck numbers are increasing with 151 shelduck, 236 wigeon, 210 teal, 96 mallard, 53 shoveler and 20 pintail. The first 2 tufted duck of the winter were spotted along with 4 gadwall. The tides have been large this week with a 9.3m tide coming in during the early hours of Tuesday morning. The waves have taken a small slice off the front of the sand dunes. The high tide wader count this week recorded 1,127 oystercatcher and 266 curlew. A group of 7 red-breasted merganser were floating along on the tide. Over at West Preston the fields were full of waders with 1,093 lapwing, 405 golden plover and 2 lone dunlin recorded.
Pink-footed goose numbers have reached a peak of 6,000 this week. The geese have been coming into roost on the wetlands in front of the hides in the evening and then flying back out to feed by the light of the full moon.
A group of 14 whooper swans have been seen daily on the wetlands from Meida Hide whilst a female marsh harrier has been gliding over the reedbed to the right of the hide. Male hen harrier has been spotted over the merse next to Rainbow Lane. The starlings are gathering in larger and larger flocks; we will be looking out for a murmuration. A little egret has been present on the beach. A few signs of summer are still clinging on with 4 swallows and a chiffchaff seen this week.
Rowena Flavelle, Warden