Mersehead Recent Sightings 1st - 7th April

Last week heralded the arrival of the first sand martins on the reserve.  This week, not only have their numbers increased somewhat (from seven to twenty) but a few other spring arrivals have appeared.  On the 1^st April a willow warbler could be heard singing near the farm buildings and was also heard again later in the week on the 6^th singing along a line of trees at the back…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 25^th – 31^st March

The week started off with a beautiful warm weekend. The first butterflies, peacocks, were spotted on the wing fluttering over the reedbed.  On Monday, we were out completing the last winter reserve count of this season.  The wetlands were looking fantastic and recorded 125 wigeon, 472 teal, 17 gadwall, 15 mallard, 45 shoveler, 9 pintail and 8 tufted duck. There were also…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 18^th – 24^th March

Lesser celandine is one of the earliest wild flowers to bloom and is currently peeking out from beneath the hedgerows at Mersehead. The petals of lesser celandine close at night and during the day when it is overcast.  It was a favourite wildflower of the poet William Wordsworth, who wrote three poems dedicated to the flower and the flower is carved on his tomb.  In the…

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…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 4th - 10th March

This week started in glorious fashion with clear blue skies and a slight raise in temperature.  Spring may finally be underway!   To mark the occasion, we were greeted on Monday afternoon with the sound of Common Frogs croaking away in the distance.  Following the sound we arrived at a small pool where a large congregation had gathered!  At this time of year common frogs and toads…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 25th February - 3rd March

After some strong winds and heavy rain alongside high tides over the weekend, we experienced some minor flooding at Mersehead, with the merse disappeared under water for a short while. It made for a good reserve count on Monday however as many birds were pushed off the beach onto the wetlands, as well as the fields, where there were plenty of new wet areas.

With a…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 18th - 24th February

It is that time of year when winter and spring overlap. The fields are full of barnacle geese with the distinctive call of pink-footed geese high in the clouds on their way back to Iceland. A song thrush can be heard every morning singing away from the very top of a hawthorn bush. Syklarks are singing across the arable fields and on the merse whilst a group of 40 field…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 11th - 17th February

Spring is showing signs here at Mersehead, with snowdrops appearing at the Visitor Centre feeding station, sightings of Ravens performing their mating flights and the slightly warmer weather.

Apart from the Ravens twirling away in the February sky, there have been sightings at Mersehead and Kirkconnell  of........

247 Wigeon, 151 Pintail, 404 Lapwings, 274 Teal and at…

Recent Sightings 4^th-10^th February

Days are getting noticeably longer on the reserve and many of the birds are starting to change their behaviour as the breeding season is in sight.

Out along the hedgerows and in the woodland, the song thrush and blackbird have been singing in earnest. They can also be seen busy in the leaf litter, perhaps foraging for nest material.

                                        Song thrush (Photo credit: S.Livingstone…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 28^th January – 3^rd February

The soundtrack to Mersehead mornings at the moment is the high pitched “wink wink” of pink-footed geese in skein formation travelling high up in the clouds soon followed by the noisy descent of barnacle geese onto the Mersehead fields after a night spent out on the sandflats. The leucistic barnacle goose has been very visible this week as a flash…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 21st- 27th January

Hi, this is my first blog and I mainly work in the Visitor Centre at Mersehead.

 In the last week, what has been so noticeable is that the murmurations of Starlings have been getting larger and larger. The birds are coming to roost at the reed beds near the Meida hide and on one night, a conservative guess had 20,000 birds in the air at one time.

On another night I waited…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 14^th-20^th January

It’s been an incredibly mild week at Mersehead, at times feeling like winter is on its way out! Various buds in the gardens are sprouting up-our first snowdrops are out-with crocuses and daffodils on the way. The birds on the feeders and in the hedgerows are starting to sing loudly too with great tits, house sparrows, and blackbirds being the noisiest at the moment…

Mersehead recent sightings 7^th – 13^th January

This week has been a busy week at Mersehead with lots of different tasks to complete, interesting species spotted on reserve and even more interesting weather. Reserve species highlights have include a short-eared owl, a male hen harrier and 4 whooper swans.  Although the week started off with mild, if windy weather, by the end of the week with dropping temperatures…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 24^th December – 6^th January

The Christmas break has been varied with high winds, rain and a flooded road followed by some glorious sunny days and hard frosts. The first winter passerine survey of 2017 got off to a great start with 75 linnet, 74 chaffinch, 45 reed bunting, 64 skylark, and 2 tree sparrow recorded within the wild bird cover and stubble habitat.  All of this counting was overseen…

Recent Sightings 17^th-23^rd December

It’s been a fairly quiet week at Mersehead and we’ve been getting lots of odd jobs tied up before the holidays begin. The predator fence has been strimmed, the workshop tidied, and our last reserve barnacle goose count of the year came to 3,495.

With the Winter solstice this week, and some wild weather on Tuesday and Wednesday, the days have felt noticeably shorter…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 10^th – 16^th December

This week at Mersehead we completed our Wetland Bird Survey, or WeBS, for Mersehead, West Preston and Kirkconnell. What made the weeks’ WeBs quite interesting and more challenging was the height of the high tide this week which came to 8.8m, flooding walkways along the River Nith and covering large areas of the merse at Mersehead. It was a dramatic change to…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 3^rd -9^th December

The weather has turned very mild this week and we have seen some fabulous sunrises over the Solway Firth with the Lakeland fells as a backdrop. The barnacle geese have been roosting closer to the sand dunes this week and have been silhouetted against the glow of the sandflats. Heard before they are seen, several small skeins of pink-footed geese have flown over the reserve…

Recent Sightings 26^th November-2^nd December

After getting used to the wetlands freezing overnight, we have had a much milder week on the reserve. The barnacle geese have certainly been enjoying this weather and have been giving us great views of them bathing in the wetlands. On Monday we counted 2,500 right in front of Bruiach hide!

At the visitors centre over the weekend, the shallow pool seen from the viewing windows…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 19^th – 25^th November

On reserve this week we have had some really interesting sightings, which have included a Green-winged teal, a Snow bunting, 6 Little egret and a Merlin spotted along Rainbow Lane, keeping us glued to our binoculars and field scopes. There have also been multiple sightings by our visitors of a male Hen harrier on reserve.  It is exciting getting news of these sightings…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 12^th – 18^th November

This week saw the November WeBS count take place so we have been back to Kirkconnell Merse to count the wildfowl and waders. A total of 849 lapwing, 398 redshank, 133 curlew and 1 greenshank were recorded. For wildfowl we recorded 321 wigeon, 177 teal, 4 pintail, 3 goldeneye and 4 goosander.  The tides have been exceptional high this week with a 9.0m tide creating…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 5th - 11th November

It’s been another fantastic week here at Mersehead. Although the nights have been drawing in and the temperatures dropping, there has been plenty of activity on the reserve to remember that winter need not be a time to retreat indoors.

Shorter daylight hours mean that sunrises and sunsets can be enjoyed without having to lose sleep and the cooler air and lower sun…

Mersehead recent sightings 29th October - 4th November 

Although the week has had mixed weather, we have enjoyed a few days of clear skies and sunshine. Perfect conditions for watching wildlife and completing reserve work, we have also enjoyed amazing views from the reserve across the Solway Firth towards the Lake District and the Isle of Man. I even ventured to the Bruaich hide just after dawn on a clear and chilly morning…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 22nd -28th October

During the winter Mersehead becomes home to many birds including geese, waders and ducks. This week it has been all about the birds of prey. Around Mersehead you might be lucky enough to see seven different types of birds prey which include marsh harrier and buzzard. 

The buzzard is a common bird of prey. You will most likely see them sitting on fence posts around the reserve…

Mersehead Recent Sightings 15^th -21^st October

The highlight of the week has to be the great grey shrike.  The bird was reported to the Visitor Centre late Tuesday afternoon in the gorse bushes along Rainbow Lane.  The next morning it was discovered roosting in the gorse bushes before it then flew to the top of a hawthorn bush on the merse.  It then spent the morning working its way up and down the line of hawthorns.

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…