On the 11th December, I wrote about how hedgehogs wake periodically through the winter, and it is important to try and provide food for them when they do. From experience, it seems that a warm spell following a frozen spell is when they are likely to wake. And sure enough, yesterday afternoon, Michael the 3 legged hedgehog who lives in my garden, emerged from his box and started rooting around in the leaves. Luckily,…

What a week at Saltholme.  It’s been wet and windy with a touch of snow thanks to storm Fionn.  With the amount of water increasing so has the abundance of mole hills.  Now on a walk down to the Saltholme Pools hide, you will notice the shear quantity of mole mounds. Moles are very elusive spending most of their time deep underground in their tunnels, but if you stare at a mole mound for long enough you may see it moving…

Due to the icy weather we've taken the difficulty decision to close the the reserve for today. The paths are incredibly icy and whilst our team are out gritting it's just not safe for our visitors to be out on the reserve.

The Visitor Centre, cafe, shop and Phil Stead Hide are open as usual but there is currently no access to the rest of the reserve.

We'll keep you updated with what happening and we expect to…

Hello and happy new year!

There has been some weird and unusual sightings this week at Saltholme. Yesterday I had a little walk around and noticed a variety of animals and creatures great and small located around the lake side path. Two green woodpeckers and one kingfisher were found in the walled garden.  Puffins and giraffes have been spotted from visitor centre windows (Look for the ark). Avocet and flamingos have been…

Like many terrestrial birds that come here for the winter, numbers of brambling vary each year according to the availability of their food. They breed in sub-arctic areas and breeding success has been linked to the abundance of Geometrid moths (the ones that eat tree leaves) in Norway and Sweden. Following good moth years, we can expect more of them to arrive here for the winter, when their diet changes to seeds, mainly…

Yes it 's time for another weekly update on the wildlife spotted at Saltholme. Having finally reached the winter solstice we can now look forward to longer days and begin to have thoughts on the upcoming spring. It has been a milder week than of late which means the water body’s have thawed allowing the wetland birds to spread out across the reserve.

Great spotted woodpecker by Peter Garbutt

Red-breasted…

An area of farmland lies north west of Saltholme, between the reserve and Cowpen Bewley, which you can see as you drive along the A1185. Although It is always a good idea to look out of the front window on that road as some of those tankers are a tad large. This farm habitat comprised pasture grassland with gappy hedgerows and was heavily overgrazed. However, RSPB have now managed the reserve for a couple of years and…

Yes it’s that time of the week again - the weekly sightings update and once again I'll start with the weather.

Since it snowed on Sunday (10^th December), the temperature has remained mostly below zero.  On Monday the water bodies around the reserve had frozen completely. This was an interesting start to the week, presenting one of the spectacles of winter … tracks in the snow. The trails around the reserve showed…

I’m not sure I know what a brass monkey is, and I’m quite sure I’ve never seen one, but if there is one at Saltholme today, as several people have suggested, it will be wearing extra underwear, a thick coat, hat, gloves and scarf. Which may make it difficult to spot, so I suggest check all the visitors for a furry tail.

Snow is interesting in that we can see the tracks of the various mammals and where…

Hello

Another cold week here at Saltholme, you definitely need your hat and gloves in this weather! Despite the weather there has been some interesting sightings this week. The cold snap has seen thrushes passing through the reserve including, mistle thrush, redwing, blackbird, song thrush and fieldfare. These birds are on the move to find suitable habitat with plentiful berries. With the cold weather set to stay a while…

In October I wrote about organic week at Saltholme, when we experimented with different ways of putting organic matter into the substrate in front of various hides. Organic matter is necessary not as bird food itself, but as the food of invertebrates such as midge larvae, which the birds feed on. We tried adding turf, cowpats and rotting vegetation.

Looking back, I think placing turf upside down onto the clay in front…

Hello

Another week has flown by here at Saltholme, as we reach the final month of the year. The weather has been bitterly cold with wind blowing from the north. To the surprise of many we had a good covering of snow and ice yesterday. However, the green sandpiper and water pipit can be seen at Phil Stead Hide. Up to 3 marsh harriers have been seen regularly this week from all over the reserve. At Watchpoint Hide a sparrowhawk…

You’ll get wet. But if you go down tomorrow, you’ll still get wet. But Thursday is looking better.

But if you do go down there, you’ll be able to follow our lovely new sort of path to a sort of viewing platform where you stand a very good chance of seeing our roosting long-eared owl.

      our roosting long-eared owl by Peter Garbutt

It’s a sort of path because it has been made quickly, and is made…

Greetings

Well that’s another week over and done with, and what a week !  It has been cold, sunny wet, windy, wild.  All the seasons in one week. 

We have now made a waymarked trail to the roosting long eared owl.  Ask at reception for directions to see this spectacular bird.  However, the ground is sloppy in places, so wellies are advised.

With the wind, other birds have been hunkered down or have been catapulted to…

Hissy and Scratchy the swans have made feeding the birds at the visitor centre feeding station an interesting experience in the mornings. Although it’s not a friendly one. When they see me arrive at the feeders, they swim to the bank, get up out of the water and waddle up to me hissing in an aggressive “feed me now, but keep your distance” sort of way.   I’ve noticed that if I squat down to put food on…

Greetings

Well another week has flown by here at Saltholme and it has been a busy one at that. With the Wetland Bird Count (WeBS) on Sunday and Winter Bird Count on Wednesday, showing the abundance of bird life around the reserve in particular the Canada geese.  A very common species that can be seen anywhere around the UK. The number of geese present at Saltholme is incredible with well over 500 individuals. Alongside…

There are a lot of little grebes at Saltholme now. I really like little grebes so I’m sort of happy ….. ish.  Because there is something about their appearance in winter. Something that makes me uneasy. The bulbous back end looks like it could house an engine. They dive, as you’d expect, but when they come back up, they stare at you with a strange mechanical look, and this got me thinking.

Just supposing…

Hello

This week has seen a coating of frost on our car window screens and trails around the reserve. Lapwing and golden plover now number into the thousands, the best area to see them is on the path down to the Saltholme Pools Hide where they are frequently scattered by birds of prey like marsh harrier. Wildfowl can also be seen in high numbers with wigeon, shovelers, teal, gadwalls now seen regularly around the site. 

There…

Hello

I’ll start my first blog by introducing my self – I’m Tom, a residential volunteer here at Saltholme. In the next few months, I will be keeping you up to date with the latest sightings from the reserve.

This week has been interesting with large groups of lapwing, golden plover, wigeon, teal, shoveler, tufted duck, canada geese and curlew seen across the site. Other regulars across the reserve…

Sadly, kingfishers don’t nest at Saltholme. We simply don’t have those high ish sandy banks they like to tunnel into. But in the autumn, the birds start to move around and a few are seen daily here. Clear water is essential for kingfishers peering into the water looking for lunch. In heavy rain, sediment loads mean many streams and rivers become turbid, and this forces kingfishers to move to ponds to look for food.…

Well it is organic week at Saltholme. Or to be more accurate: It’s organic matter week at Saltholme.

That means this week we are adding organic matter to the mud where birds feed in front of hides. We need to do this when clay has been exposed and there is no organic matter there. Of course the birds aren’t feeding on the organic matter itself, but the larvae of midges which in turn feed on the organic matter…

It’s October, it’s almost Halloween, but I’m sleeping with the window open as it is so warm. We’ve had trickles of birds coming through on migration, such as woppa swans, sorry, whooper swans, and skeins of pink feet flying over. We’ve also had up to 27 ruff around taking advantage of our larvae filled mud. And the first redwings were in today. It’s time to get the apples out ready for arriving waxwings. But I’m out there…

Sunday saw the first of this years small mammal trapping demonstration.

We do this for a few reasons:

1. To survey what small mammals we have on the reserve.

2.  It gives the opportunity for our team to train and practice their skills.

3. It's a fantastic opportunity for you, our visitors to see some of the reserve's smaller inhabitants up close.

Our team of dedicated volunteers, were out towards the end…

There has been a recent article in a tabloid newspaper which suggested that you shouldn’t feed hedgehogs in the autumn as it is the lack of food which triggers hibernation.

This is absolutely wrong.

It is cold that drives hedgehogs to hibernate. And as the hedgehog population is now in such rapid decline, they need all the help we can give them. To get through the winter a hedgehog needs to weigh over 600…

This week at Paddy's Pool hide we've been lucky enough to have some simply stunning views of a very active flock of shovellers.

Photo by Graeme Walker

They could be seen throughout the day on both Tuesday and Thursday with only a brief period of time around 12 o'clock, when they were absent, we assume they returned home to feed.

They spent both days stomping around and digging in the mud at the very edge…