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With the wonderful weather we've had over the past few days, things have been busy down here at the reserve. Although the weather may have cooled down the bird action certainly hasn't with this morning bringing with it some brilliant views of a female marsh harrier and a male hen harrier , both...

No doubt many of you are already aware of what happened on Sunday afternoon, but for those who are not so local I’m sure you’ll be saddened by the news that a large area of the saltmarsh on the estuary went up in flames. Staff and volunteers from the reserve joined firefighters in a bid to...

Needless to say, Rhian's excited proclamation - upon the arrival of our first avocet of the year in mid-February - that spring was here, was a little premature. Since then we've had plenty more snow flurries, frozen pools and lots of gratitude for the stove in our reception hide. However, we've...

Soon nearly 8 million seabirds return to their breeding grounds on the UK’s coast and our seas will be alive with squabbling guillemots, groaning puffins and graceful fulmars. Whilst not a truly coastal reserve, the Dee Estuary is home to a sizeable black-headed gull colony and a variety of...

Thank you to all those who have attended our trail Monday evening dusk walks ... I hope you'll agree that the site of our resident great white egrets coming into roost right over your heads was worth it! Other sightings from Monday include green woodpecker, male hen harrier, peregrine, siskin...

Come along to celebrate National Tree Week and plant your very own tree on Sunday 2 December. We have some lovely areas of mixed woodlands to explore and several new tree and hedge planting sessions have already taken place. National Tree Week is a fantastic event and we are pleased to be taking...

It looks like the RSPBs Dee Estuary Nature Reserve is the place to be this autumn, we have had some spectacular birds passing through on the marsh and arriving at Burton Mere Wetlands. Three (two adult and one juvenile) common crane have been seen of the RSPB's Burton Point midweek, these magnificent...

Come down to Parkgate on the Dee Estuary for a good chance to see England’s rarest breeding bird of prey, the hen harrier. Two have already been sighted. Over the next six months the reserve is hosting In Search of Skydancers, a series of seven events, offering nature lovers the opportunity...

Nature lovers are being invited to turn detective and help discover as many types of wildlife as possible living at RSPB Parkgate. From Friday 31 August the wetland nature reserve is hosting a “Bioblitz”, a large-scale wildlife stock take, where visitors will help spot the maximum number...

Wednesday 15th August, Saturday 8th September and 13th October 2012 With previous sightings including long-tailed skuas, peregrine falcons, osprey and Atlantic grey seals, there’s always a sense of excitement on these cruises. We’ve teamed up once again this year with Mersey Ferries...

Last night a regular visitor found a pectoral sandpiper feeding in front of the Marsh Covert hide which means that we are just one away from the magical 30 wading birds barrier . To put this in context the "RSPB Handbook of British Birds" only lists 34 wading birds in its main section with...

Have you got what it takes to become RSPB’s Dee Estuary’s first ever intern? The new RSPB visitor centre at Burton Mere Wetlands has welcomed thousands of visitors through its doors since it opened in September and now the visitor demand is so high that they need your help. A special...

A few not-so-subtle changes have occured in the past week or two as the first summer visitors have arrived whilst most of the winter stayers have left. Several unmistakable sounds were noticed as I opened up the reserve this morning, firstly at least 3 chiffchaffs were singing - and yes that distinctive...

With exactly one week to go before our first Parkgate high tide event of the year, there is much excitement in the air as numerous phonecalls, emails and enquiries begin to ask the familiar old questions. Where is the best place to go? What is the best time to be there? What is the best day to come?...

Late stayers at Burton Mere Wetlands have seen the (phenomenal) little egret roost receive a couple of new lodgers over the past few weeks - two great white egrets! Several reports of great white egret at Parkgate led the staff here to carefully examine everyone of the 200+ little egrets that come...

Pectoral Sandpiper with Lapwing by by K. Scovell In the words of one visitor "Inner Marsh Farm has delivered again" as a quiet Sunday afternoon was rudely disturbed by this small wader feeding amongst the gathered lapwings. It was quickly identified as a pectoral sandpiper ( Calidris...

Hello This time of year is very busy as early morning breediig bird surveys begin as early as 7am! Redshank surveys have started out on the marsh with skylarks, reed bunting, oystercatcher and meadow pipits all recorded displaying over our plots. A volunteer and I had amazing views...

Spring has more than sprung and the stars of the show are the warblers, in the words of our visitors "Its amazing down there at the moment!" A picture can say a thousand words so here goes ... (some better than others!) Chiffchaff Sedge warbler Grasshopper Warbler Blackcap...

The Big Year for IMF is going strong as mid-late March saw us smash through the 100 species mark for the year. Thank You. The usual suspects - avocet (11th), sand martin (13th), wheatear (13th), chiffchaff (25th), house martin (25th), swallow (25th) - were joined by an early fall of blackcaps (14th...