You could be forgiven for thinking we've gone lamb mad this Easter, but we certainly haven't forgotten all of the other amazing wildlife we have here at Saltholme.
Many of our visitors have been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Bobby our resident water vole. You'll be pleased to hear that we have numerous water voles one site. Water voles are Britain's largest species of vole and are sometimes mistaken for brown rats. They have undergone one of the most serious declines of any wild mammal in Britain during the 20th century, so it's simply fantastic that they are doing so well at Saltholme. Below is a screen shot of the video we hope to bring you soon.
We've had some brilliant weasel sightings particularly around the Paddy's and the lambing shed.
The spoonbill is still around giving good views from Paddy's.
A Cetti's warbler is still being heard and occasionally seen at Haverton scrub.
A grasshopper warbler has been heard singing regularly in the car park as you arrive at the reserve.
Probably the most interesting sighting we've had happened today when a young visitor came across a beetle in the Wildlife watchpoint. After showing it to our Assistant Warden it was identified as a burrowing beetle. The beetle burrows inside the corpses of animals to lay its eggs, where they hatch and feed on the remains. Amazingly its believed to be the first time we've seen one here at Saltholme, unfortunately I couldn't gat my hands on a photo taken today so below is borrowed from Wikipedia.
Copyright Holger Gröschl (from Wikipedia)