Mersehead Recent Sightings 22nd - 28th April
One of our earliest returning migrants, the first wheatear was reported to the Visitor Centre quite a few weeks ago. However, they have not been a regular sighting around the reserve until this week when suddenly they have appeared all over the reserve. The first grasshopper warbler of the year was heard singing away from the reedbed on Millbank Merse this morning whilst another returning migrant, the house martin, has been spotted busily repairing its nest in the eaves of the office. The distinctive "wink wink" of pink-footed geese had us scanning the skies yesterday as a skein of 42 came into view. The barnacle goose count on Wednesday recorded only 880 as our most famous migrants head north to their breeding grounds in Svalbard. This morning we have been monitoring Kirkconnell Merse for breeding waders and recorded good numbers of redshank, oystercatcher and curlew. We will need to repeat the survey twice more before we can work out how many breeding pairs there are. Two little egret flew over the merse and 3 wheatears perched on three fence posts all in a row. Once again pink-footed geese were seen going over in formation, a total of 850 flew over in three skeins.
Wheatear (Photo credit: J.McDougall)
We have also been completing the first round of wildfowl and wader surveys at Mersehead this week and the field directly in front of the Visitor Centre is proving very popular. Three pairs of oystercatcher have been displaying; with its contrasting black and white plumage, orange beak and legs and blood red eye the oystercatcher is a very striking bird. A pair of redshank are also present along with 2 pairs of teal and shoveler - and all of this just meters from the Visitor Centre window. Whilst surveying the slatmarsh 4 common sandpiper skimmed low over the surface of the Southwick Water. Over by Lott's wife, the distinct caw of a raven can be heard and a flash of sapphire revealed a very brief glimpse of a kingfisher. The lapwings are doing a great job of defending their territories from corvids. A loud commotion this morning saw 10 lapwings in the air determinedly dive bombing one rook.
Oystercatcher (Photo credit: Andy Hay)
At the beginning of the week the constant night-time temperature of 10oC meant it was the perfect weather for a adult natterjack toad population survey and what an incredible survey it was! The air was filled with their chorus and everywhere we looked a pair of eyes gleamed in the torch light. Individual toads are counted after dark to estimate the size of the population - we recorded a total of 209 adult males and 31 adult females, a record for Mersehead in one night. During the day we search the breeding pools for spawn strings. A female will only spawn once in a year so spawn string counts are a good reflection of the approximate adult female population size.
Natterjack toad (Photo credit: Roseanne Watts)
The natterjack toad is a European protected species and a licence is required to work with this amphibian. We are running guided walks at Mersehead on Saturday 6th and Saturday 13th May where you will have the opportunity under the direction of a licence holder to hear their fabulous chorus and see these amazing toads at Mersehead.
Rowena Flavelle, Warden