As January comes to a close and spring edges closer there are plenty of winter birding pleasures to be had around the reserve. Brockholes is an excellent wintering site for Bittern and currently two birds have been observed around Meadow Lake.

Some excellent counts of wildfowl with peak numbers including 68 Shoveller, 138 Gadwall, 12 Pochard, 12 Goldeneye, 5 Pintail (scarce here), 61 Wigeon, 43 Teal, 26 Tufted Duck, 18 Mallard, 45 Canada Geese, 21 Mute Swan. 5 Goosander and 108 Pink-footed Geese (west).

Great to see 350 Lapwing in the wintering flock, however they are a species in great decline. A few pairs bred on site last year. Still good numbers of Snipe with 80+ birds scattered around the reserve. A Jack Snipe is occasionally seen on Meadow Lake. The first Redshank were back on the 27th (more signs of spring), Oystercatcher and Curlew also. At least one over wintering Green Sandpiper is around but the fly over Bar-tailed Godwit (2) on the 19th are very unusual with only ~ 29 site records.

The first Mediterranean Gull of the year, an adult joined up to 700 Black-headed Gull on no.1 Pit on the 26th. We can expect more of these smart gulls in the coming weeks.

Other species logged recently include, 2 Little Egret, Water Rail, Chiffchaff, 2 Cettis Warbler, 150 Redwing, 6 Fieldfare, 4 Song Thrush, 2 Stonechat, 9 Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest, 2 Bullfinch, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, 2 Coal Tit 2+ Kingfisher.

The Starling murmuration continues to be impressive with at up to 20,000 birds coming in around 4.30pm on No.1 Pit.

If you are visiting the reserve and would like to know what is around and where the best spots might be or have something to report, feel free to drop into the in focus shop, based in the Lookout and we can point you in the right direction.