Mersehead Recent Sightings 8th - 14th October
You can tell winter is approaching at Mersehead. There is a slight coldness in the air and the reserve is starting to change. Usually when i walk around Mersehead I have school children with me or families taking part in a event but today was a rare treat. I get to walk around Mersehead on my own.
Mersehead is definitely heading towards winter. The first thing you notice is the noise. The reserve is full of noise which include pink footed geese and barnacle geese. I was always told that pink footed geese sound like they say pink-pink-wink-wink which sometimes you can hear.
Picture by Chris Gomersall
As you walk down to the hides the hedgerows are full of greenfinch eating the rosehips, yellowhammers chasing each other and playing. On this cold crisp morning there are other animals on the reserve including brown hare munching on the grass and trying to hide away. As you reach the hide the noise changes to a whistling.
Picture by Ben Hall
On the wetlands during the winter it becomes home to loads of ducks which include teal, pintail, wigeon, shoveler and Gadwall. All of these ducks are called dabbling ducks. As you watch them on the water you can see why they are called that. You watch them dive under the water and all these bottoms are in the air while they get the plants under the water. As well as the ducks there are other birds calling Mersehead their winter home. These include ten Whooper swans looking elegant as they glide across the water.
As you enter the media hide, it is really quiet when you first enter. As you scan the trees there are birds sat resting including buzzard and hen harrier. I was lucky enough to see the marsh harrier but it has been spotted this week. We have had other finds spotted this week including badgers and roe deer. We have also had other winter migrants arrive including white fronted geese, brambling and redwing.
Picture taking by Chris Gomersall
Mersehead is a unique place. At the moment we have a rare opportunity to extend Mersehead and make it a bigger home for nature. From the map below you can see we are trying to buy the areas in pink. We need your help to raise £285,000 before 31st October 2016. If we buy this land well have more reedbeds for reed warblers, greater areas of grassland for our lapwings; more wetlands for birdlife and the spawing tadpoles of natterjack toads. And of course even more feeding ground for our Svalbard barnacle geese. To find out more follow the link below
https://www.rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp/donations/campaigns/mersehead-appeal/index.aspx
Kirsty Griffiths
Events and Learning Officer