At last the flood waters have gone and we're open again.

great views of the barnacle geese today, aswell as pintail and our regular sightings of a ring tail henharrier

Colin   

The reserve is closed today due to flooding. We will keep you updated.

Hi RSPB Mershead community,

Due to the lane flooding the reserve is closed for the rest of the day. The barnacle geese don't seem to mind though!

Liz

Hi RSPB Mersehead community, 

The lane is dry again and the barnacle geese continue to arrive. There were just over 8700 at the last count towards West Preston. There have been many moments this week when seeing and hearing the geese flying around and over the reserve has made me stop what I was doing and watch them. The noise they make is really quite incredible! Recently we have created some more scrapes and raised…

The lane to the reserve is slightly flooded this morning and not accessible unless you have an off road vehicle, but hopefully will ease by this afternoon.

I saw some fascinating fungi yesterday out and about on the reserve, photos and blog to follow!

Liz

Hi RSPB Mersehead community,

This is the start of my third week at Mersehead and the weather has so far proven to be very changeable! Heavy rain saw out the last week of September, wind and showers started October and now everything seems to have calmed down, the perfect opportunity to get down to the beach and watch waders at high tide. My best sightings in the past week have been the pair of hen harriers showing off…

On behalf of Liz who is the Visitor & Community Liaison Officer while Becky is on maternity leave.

 Hi RSPB Mersehead community,

 I’m Liz, a new face at RSPB Mersehead, and I look forward to meeting you when you visit the reserve!

 I will tell you a bit more about myself in future blog posts, or over a cup of coffee in the Visitor Centre. After the first few days here I’m amazed at the sightings that we’re getting…

In stark contrast to yesterdays appalling weather the sun is out and no rain!

The flooding we experienced the previous day has gone -so open as usual.

Geese are plentiful with large flocks of Greylags, Pink footed geese and of-course the Barnacles are still arriving.

If you can make the most of the good weather come and see for yourself!!

Colin  

Hi all just a quick note to let you know that the reserve access road is flooded again today due to heavy rainfall overnight! Hopefully the flooding won't last too long! Will keep you all updated!

Hello to all

Well its that time of year again and geese are on the move, with several flocks of pink footed geese moving around the area, and today I'm delighted to see the return of the Svalbard Barnacle Geese, returning from their summer breeding grounds in Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago and spending thier winter here in the South west of Scotland . Up to 30,000 of these geese will winter…

Well cast your minds back a couple of months to June 17th and you might remember that we were closed because of bad flooding, well here we are exactly 2 months later and I am afraid to say the reserve is shut again because of flooding.  We had an unprecendented amount of rainfall overnight plus a high tide which has led to widespread flooding of the merse and our access road!!  There are a number of high tides over the…

Well following on from an amazing week last week - sunshine for 5 consecutive days, I was surprised during a stroll today to see the first signs of autumn - rowan and hawthorn berries are starting to appear and replace the wild flowers.  The Swallows and House Martins are starting to gather on the telegraph wires as they prepare for their migration back to Africa and there has even been a small murmuration of young Starling…

Well what a glorious day it has been today, at long last! The sun has been shining and I am sure I speak for us all when I say it has really lifted my mood to glimpse the sun! We have some new arrivals on the reserve that have also been enjoying the rare sun too -  a family of baby Moorhen swimming in the water behind the Visitor Centre.  Then when I headed up to the Sulwath Centre I was met by Kirsty, one of our Field…

Our current residential volunteer Michael had a really exciting evening yesterday whilst taking a wander on the reserve.  As he was walking up the lane between the two hides, he was lucky enough to see an otter scampering down the lane towards him.  It then ducked underneath one of the gates and disappeared into one of our slightly flooded fields.  Continuing up the lane Michael then saw two Hare sitting in a field being…

Well it's been an exciting day today for sightings, considering this is our "quiet" time of year when it comes to birds!  The day started well with a close up view of a Great Spotted Woodpecker on a telegraph pole near the Visitor Centre this morning then it continued to improve with 2 independant Osprey sightings, one visitor reported seeing an Osprey flying high over the reserve at lunchtime whilst our…

Hello, just a quick update on our breeding Natterjack toads. We're still surveying every week throughout the summer to monitor progress and we currently have in the region of 300 tadpoles, some of which are becoming rather large! All going well we should begin to see legs and arms sprouting and little natterjack toadlets running around in the next month or so!

Adam

Well great excitement at Mersehead today when a visitor came into the Visitor Centre with some great  news, he had discovered a Spotted Flycatcher nest complete with chicks and very attentive parents just inside the woodland on the way to the Meida Hide.  The Spotted Flycatchers have chosen a hole in a dead tree to build their nest in and are busily going backwards and forwards feeding their chick(s).  So if you are planning…

Well after what seems like days of bad news to pass on to you about the floods I can at last say that I come bearing good news for a nice change!!  We have been noticing a pair of Oystercatcher in the field behind the Visitor Centre recently that have definitely set up home in that field, we can now confirm, thanks to the eagle eyes of a visitor that they have at least 2 chicks!!  Me and our local volunteer Judith have…

Not sure if my other blog got through so in danger of repeating myself here, but the expected floods didn't occur today, hooray! So the reserve will be open as usual tomorrow!! We will be continuing to monitor the situation tomorrow but at the moment everything looks fine!

We hope to see you soon!!

Well as I sit here I can't help but have a creeping feeling of anxiety as we wait to see what the next couple of hours will bring!!  At the moment the rain has stopped and although the burn is high and full of water the drive is dry - however all this is likely to change as the high tide starts to develop, hitting its peak at 14.49.  There is also a strong wind coming in off the Solway which is likely to make the increasing…

Well the horrible weather continues!!  At the moment the access road is clear and the reserve is fully accessible to all, however we are anticipating flooding this afternoon as we await a high tide at 2.50pm.  Therefore we have taken the decision to open the reserve until 1.30pm but we would strongly advise the removal of all vehicles from the reserve by 2pm as there is a strong likelihood that the only access road onto…

Well here we go again, it is with some regret that I announce we are having to close the reserve again today due to flooding.  This time it is not only caused by a tremendous amoount of rain in the last few hours but also we have a high tide of 7.6 due at 2pm which is likely to cause flooding over the drive again.  We hope that once the high tide has been and gone that we will not be flooded for long, but if you are planning…

The epic weekend of the flood will not be forgotten... although not quite biblical proportions it was quite dramatic being stranded, even within a nature reserve. Today Mersehead is looking lusher than ever with the return of the summer sunshine. Here’s some things i spotted recently:

• Barn owl hunting from 3pm after a night of torrential rain
• Ragged Robin, Yellow Rattle and Bittersweet Nightshade all in bloom…