Spring well and truly is in full swing here at Saltholme. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and more and more we're seeing wildlife in the throws of courtship.
The highlights for the reserve this week have really come from the Haverton end of the reserve, if you venture as far as the wildflower walk you will be in for a real treat. The walk is really living up to it's name with the cowslips in full bloom, there's a carpet of yellow as you head towards the jubilee viewpoint. Taking advantage of this early nectar are small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies as well as a number of bumble bees.
Of course you can't head over haverton way and not have the slight hope of catching a glimpse of a bittern, and they have been booming this week!
But for me the real stars of the show this week have been the otters.
One of our wardens, Ed Prichard was lucky enough to have captured this footage of these usually shy and retiring animals whilst he was doing his rounds.
Otters are usually very difficult to see and although we have known that we have them on the reserve for some time, there presence has only really been known by what they leave behind... (yes we're talking poo!!) So we're very excited that Ed managed to capture this footage of an adult with pups, and in broad daylight too!
Here’s the list for 21 April, courtesy of Dave A:
Teal, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Graylag Goose, Black-headed Gull, Gadwall, Wood pigeon, Lapwing, Goldfinch, Wren, Tree Sparrow, Canada Goose, Stock Dove, Great Tit, Magpie, Tufted Duck, Sand Martin, Blue Tit, Greenfinch, Skylark, Grey Heron, Reed, Warbler, Mute Swan, Shellduck, Starling, Great crested grebe, Pheasant, Reed Bunting, Little Grebe, Common Gull, Red-breasted Merganser, Little Ringed Plover, Shovler, Meadow Pipit, Kestrel, White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Swallow, Garganey, Black-tailed Godwit, Sparrowhawk, House Martin, Oystercatcher