The blog is back! Thank you for your patience while the blog went thought it's upgrade!

The short eared-owl has started showing nicely very early on in the day, and then coming out and flying near the Marshland Discovery Zone from about 2pm. We have seen two so far, so it's starting to build up sightings wise!

Short-eared owl by Stephen Lewington Short-eared owl by Stephen Lewington

Other birds of prey that we have seen recently include fantastic views of the marsh harrier, kestrel, sparrowhawk, buzzard, peregrine and the barn owl.

Wader numbers are building up - we've been seeing big flocks of lapwing and black tailed godwit (about 500!) around the reserve. We have also had some nice views of water rail, snipe, ruff, and the odd dunlin too. It is quite something when they all go up!

Wader swirl by Dawn Cowan Wader swirl by Dawn Cowan

A bittern has been seen occasionally from the Ken Barrett Hide, so it's worth scanning the reeds - you never know!

Bittern by Barry Tranfield Bittern by Barry Tranfield

Swimming bittern by Barry Tranfield  Swimming bittern by Barry Tranfield

The bearded tits are being seen as well - either around the Dragonfly Pools or the Northern Boardwalk.

A cattle egret flew past on Monday (12 November), we've not seen one for a short while so it was nice to see one fly over!

Cattle egret by Andy Tweed Cattle egret by Andy Tweed

The pipits are around and showing quite nicely - keep an eye out for water pipits at the Shooting Butts Hide, and rock pipits on the foreshore.

The duck numbers are starting to build up - teal, pintail, shoveler, wigeon, and mallard are starting to gather on the pools around the reserve.

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We mentioned the other day (see the blog post here)  that there are two offers for you in the Shop, running until Tuesday 26th November:  20% off all of our Suet Bumper Boxes and 20% off our Nest Boxes.

Well we just wanted to let you know that we have a limited stock of beautiful scarves that are now only £5 (usually £15)! Perfect for a Christmas present...

We will also have a Black Friday Sale starting on Wednesday 21 November!