Birding Group Visit to Burton Mere Wetlands : 17th March 2015
In a change of schedule we swopped our planned venue for Burton Mere Wetlands. This gave those members of the group that had not already seen the Long-eared Owl to try for it. Although the bird had moved from its previous location we eventually found it on our way back from Inner Marsh Farm hide with the help of a friendly volunteer who was actually stationed there to prevent photographers from harassing the bird. It was in a much better position so we got better views than we had previously managed.
We all met up at the reception hide. Somewhat annoyingly, the first thing one fo the volunteers said was that she had seen a pair of Green Woodpeckers just outside the reception hide a little while before as she was opening up the hide. Needless to say we couldn’t find them. The keep being seen and we keep missing them ! From the reception hide – and, in fact, from several places on the site- we could see quite a few Avocets. I’m not quite sure how many they have on the site but we saw them from the main reception hide and Inner Marsh Farm hide. There were the usual birds on the water but we didn’t stay too long there because we wanted to get to the owl before it got too busy. We did pop in at the Inner Marsh Farm hide but it was pretty quiet really. Most f the woodland birds we saw we just saw as we walked to and from that hide. We also walked up on to the new Point section of the reserve but it was so foggy (actually it was apparently air pollution) that we could not see very far, which was a shame. We were hoping to find some Wheatear because it is up that part of the reserve that we usually see them. There had only been one report of a single bird and that was on the marsh so perhaps we were being a bit optimistic.
We did also manage to see a Kestrel and a pair of Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk so our bird of prey day wasn’t too bad. Another curious sight was a group of about ten grey Herons just loafing around from the – largely shallow – water at the Marsh Covert hide. These were presumably non-breeding birds from the substantial roost that we could see in the treetops.
Bird Sightings : Burton Mere Wetlands : Reception Hide
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Canada Goose | 20 |
| Mute Swan | 10 |
| Common Shelduck | 30 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Northern Shoveler | 4 |
| Northern Pintail | 3 |
| Common Teal | 30 |
| Little Grebe | 1 |
| Great Cormorant | 2 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Common Moorhen | 3 |
| Common Coot | 8 |
| Pied Avocet | 12 |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | 2 |
| Northern Lapwing | 30 |
| Common Redshank | 2 |
| Black-headed Gull | 20 |
Bird Sightings : Burton Mere Wetlands : Inner Marsh Farm
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Common Teal | 10 |
| Tufted Duck | 8 |
| Pied Avocet | 10 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 12 |
Bird Sightings : Burton Mere Wetlands : Environs
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 30 |
| Eurasian Sparrowhawk | 1 |
| Common Buzzard | 2 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 8 |
| Long-eared Owl | 1 |
| Common Kestrel | 1 |
| Eurasian Magpie | 4 |
| Rook | 30 |
| Carrion Crow | 10 |
| Coal Tit | 1 |
| Great Tit | 6 |
| Eurasian Blue Tit | 6 |
| European Robin | 4 |
| Eurasian Blackbird | 4 |
| Dunnock | 2 |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 |
| Reed Bunting | 4 |
| Common Chaffinch | 10 |
| European Goldfinch | 8 |