Longer days, milder temperatures and the first of the years bank holidays under our belt, it can only mean that spring is here, and at Saltholme that means two things, lambs and migration.
The Easter break has seen us welcoming hordes of families on to the reserve for our lambing live event where we spoke to them about why Saltholme is such a special place and how our fabulous flock of Shetland sheep help to keep this place special.
Thanks to Lockhart Horsburgh for his pic of some of the lambs having a bit of a play.
Which brings us nicely to migration.
This last couple of weeks we've started to see our summer residents arriving, Chiffchaff, yellow wagtail and skylark and swallows being on my list of favorites.
Stunning yellow wagtail taken by Peter Garbutt.
we do of course have some custom built accommodation here on the reserve for some of our more conspicuous visitors. Sand martins have begun to excavate the bank by the visitors centre this last week or so, with 20 holes being investigated but we're yet to see the arrival of the stunning common terns.
Sand martins using our custom built bank.
Enough of my musings...
Here's the list for 14 April courtesy of Dave Atkinson.
Shovler, gadwall, mallard, lapwing, Canada goose, graylag goose, moorhen, black-tailed godwit, tree sparrow, blackbird, black-headed gull, dunnock, great tit, reed bunting, snipe, woodpigeon, teal, coot, herring gull, starling, goldfinch, swallow, magpie, curlew, redshank, wren, chaffinch, greenfinch, tufted duck, mute swan, sand martin, stock dove, great crested grebe, shellduck, lesser black-backed gull, wigeon, pochard, red-breasted merganser, goldeneye, little egret, grey heron, carrion crow, wheatear, pied wagtail, pheasant, meadow pipit, skylark, greenshank, blue tit, willow warbler, little grebe, cormorant, little ringed plover. *
Dean also let us know about common sandpiper over at Saltholme Pools Hide this morning.
*Dave would like it noting that this is HIS list for the day and may not be exhaustive. :)