Warm weather and WeBS

Mersehead Recent Sightings 11^th-17^th March

A week of mild weather has thankfully dried out some of the fields and paths around Mersehead, and with sunshine lingering into the evenings now, there has been plenty of activity around the reserve.

A bright start to the week on Monday made for an enjoyable WeBS count at Mersehead and West Preston, particularly as the day started with 32 whooper swans flying over the fields. It was a good day for ducks too with 84 wigeon, 353 teal, 64 shoveler, 54 shelduck, 30 mallard, 64 pintail, 6 gadwall, 5 tufted duck, 2 goldeneye, 2 little grebe, and 3 moorhen all recorded. Waders are still being seen in good numbers too with 632 oystercatcher, 85 lapwing, 290 dunlin, 201 curlew, 16 redshank, 2 ringed plover flitting around the beach, and 31 golden plover flying in a tight flock above the dunes.

Whooper swans over barnacle geese (photo credit: S.Livingstone)

At Kirkconnell this week, despite windy weather making it difficult to steady the telescope, we managed to count 40 pink-footed geese, 56 shelduck, 149 wigeon, 11 goldeneye, 6 red-breasted merganser, 3 snipe, 54 curlew and 38 redshank.

Back at Mersehead, a pair of lapwing were spotted mating from the Visitor Centre window on Wednesday afternoon, and we have started to notice a few rather static lapwing in the fields that may be starting to nest, so things are really moving in to Spring now. Other pairings this week have been 2 pied wagtail dancing up on the roof of the byre as well as feeding out in the closest field, and a male and female stonechat following each other down the dunes.

Female and male stonechat  (photo credit: S.Livingstone)

We also took part in the co-ordinated barnacle goose count this week, totalling 6,858 across our patch, and we look forward to hearing soon how the Svalbard population is faring across the Solway.

Apart from birds, there has been plenty of amphibian activity with more frog spawn appearing in the pools, as well as mating common toads and individual toads wandering around, often making risky road crossings.

Some interesting wildflowers are popping up around the reserve now with wood sorrel and town-hall clock brightening up the woodland floor, and at the high-tide point the air was filled with the smell of wild garlic, and bluebell shoots covered the ground. Bumblebees have also been appearing out of the blue and are taking quite an interest in the blossom outside the Sulwath garden.

Wild garlic (photo credit: S.Livingstone)

In other sightings, the little egret who remained elusive during WeBS was spotted flying over the fields on Thursday afternoon, and a visitor reported 2 chiffchaff up near the woodlands on Thursday too. A kestrel has regularly been hovering over the fields on the way in to the reserve, and over the weekend we were treated to a beautiful harvest moon, rising up just before dark, as the barn owl swooped out of the farm buildings to hunt over the fields.

Sarah Livingstone, Residential Trainee Warden