Coot:: Photo credit - Gavin Chambers
Two coots have recently been spotted on the water out from the Meida hide. These small water birds may not seem the most likely creatures to get excited about, however coots have not been recorded here at Mersehead in the last few years. Coots are common throughout most of the UK and often seen on large bodies of open water. Slightly bigger than a moorhen, they are extremely territorial during the breeding season and will spend large amounts of time seeing of other birds. Their distinctive plain white forehead on an otherwise slate grey/black body is where the term 'as bald as a coot' is derived from.
Other sightings aound Mersehead include:
From the hides - mute swan, shelduck, shoveler, teal, green-winged teal, curlew, scaup, wigeon, gadwall, mallard, moorhen, little grebe, grey heron, pintail, tufted duck
From the visitor centre - robin, goldfinch, greenfinch, chaffinch, great tit, blue tit, coal tit, house sparrow, tree sparrow, yellowhammer, dunnock, pheasant, blackbird
In the woodland - rook, goldcrest, great spotted woodpecker, song thrush and wren
On the shore - oystercatcher, redshank, dunlin, ringed plover and flocks of twite feeding around the sand dunes.
Around the reserve - hen harrier, kestrel, buzzard, barn owl, lapwing, skylark, linnet, carrion crow, snipe, and barnacle geese. starling, stonechat, starling, and wood pigeon.