Winter Wonderland

RSPB Mersehead Blog  10^th – 16^th December 2022

The freezing temperatures have left Mersehead looking like a winter wonderland this week. With the beautiful sight of glistening frost coating the reserve it is lovely to be outside, although necessary to wrap up warm! 

Mersehead looked like a winter wonderland this week! Photo credit S.Doyle

Frozen webs and wetlands from the Bruaich hide. Photo credit S. Doyle

A robin keeping warm in the frosty weather. Photo credit A. Sutton

Cold conditions didn’t stop the fun at the forest school on Saturday where the kids kept warm by cooking hot chocolate and cinnamon apples on the fire. The festive season was embraced as they made Christmas cards and decorations with materials foraged from around the reserve. There will be more forest school workshops in the new year so keep an eye on our Facebook page after Christmas for dates.

Keeping warm at the forest school.

With most of the water in the wetlands frozen over, there were fewer ducks to be seen this week. Even so, they are still around in smaller numbers and Monday’s wetland bird survey recorded Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Pintail, Shoveler, Moorhen and Little Grebe from the Meida hide. Water Rail was also heard here, but remained out of sight! Other highlights of the survey included 11 Sanderling, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Great crested Grebe, 3 Goosander, 1800 Knot and 57 Pink-footed geese.

Mersehead Wetland Bird Survey results 12 Dec 2022

Barnacle and Pink footed geese in a frost covered field. Photo credit A.Sutton

Wigeon, Teal, Pintail and Shoveler huddled together on the wetlands with a much reduced water cover. Photo credit C. Murray

Other sightings around the reserve this week included Bullfinch and Fieldfare flitting about the hedgerows, and Yellowhammer and Tree Sparrow are regular visitors at the visitor centre. Red Kite has also been spotted and a Buzzard seen several times perched on one of the trees along the entrance road to the reserve. 

Bullfinch have been spotted flying up and down the hedgerows along the main track down towards the woodland. Photo credit A. Sutton

Yellowhammer on a frosty branch. Photo credit A. Sutton

House Sparrow on a bird bath at the visitor centre. In these icy conditions birds can suffer from dehydration so if you can please try to put out fresh water for them daily. Photo credit A. Sutton

The final Tuesday volunteer work party of the year was held on Tuesday (where the icy conditions were braved for the maybe not-so-appealing task of cleaning out the cattle shed) – a huge thank you to all our volunteers for all the hard work and time they’ve given over the past year.

Finally, the Mersehead team wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

See you back in 2023!

Sorcha Doyle, Residential Volunteer

Festive opening times:

Mersehead reserve will be open over the festive break, but closed on Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

From 23 December to 3 January, our visitor centre and toilets will be closed but the visitor car park, trails and hides will remain open. Normal opening will resume on 4 January.

*Holiday Cottages - Discover the breath-taking scenery, wildlife, cultural and history of Dumfries & Galloway whilst staying in one of the Mersehead cosy semi-detached holiday cottages – Barnacle and Shelduck – located in the heart of reserve.

*Flooding - Please note that Mersehead nature reserve is prone to flooding during periods of high rainfall and/or strong winds and tidal surges. To avoid disappointment at these times, please contact the reserve in advance of your visit by email in the first instance at mersehead@rspb.org.uk or check the RSPB Dumfries and Galloway Facebook Page for daily updates.