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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...

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...

"The problem with gulls is that they all look the same", is a sentence that I commonly hear. Many different gulls look similar, and experienced birders learn to look for the subtle differences between species for proper gull identification. With the high degree of hybridization among gulls...

Yesterday we had a lesser scaup grace our meres, this great American duck is a very common sight across North America and gets its name from the its size difference from its cousin the scaup, or greater scaup. As the lesser is a tad smaller but in the UK when theses rare birds turn up this make them...

If you have a few days at home with the kids or grandchildren, then make a beeline for Dee! There is plenty of fun to be had this half term at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands with loads of activities and events for children. Kids will be delighted to take part in the events that will teach them all about...

Dear All It has been a while! I have just returned from our warden welly walk around the back of IMF2. It was great :-) A lovely bunch of people keen to learn and lovely sunshine. The last couple of weeks have been wet ones indeed for me. Due to high winds and high tides I have been helping our...

Another excuse to let people know how well behaved one of our water rails is ....

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...

Animals at the UK’s leading zoo are enjoying extra fresh and tasty mealtimes with the help of a local Cheshire nature reserve. RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands has teamed up with Chester Zoo to supply vegetation to feed a number of animals, including giraffes, rhinos and elephants. As part of Burton...

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...

A minor piece of management work has paid off and a very confiding water rail is showing off right in front of the reception building. Our lovely wardens and volunteers spent yesterday cutting vegetation near to the reception building and I hope you agree that it was worth it

We have had another brilliant few days at the Parkgate High Tide event and Hoylake High Tide Event, Parkgates high tide was not one of the biggest tides and the weather conditions were not correct for the tide to be pushed up to the sea wall. But there were still loads of great birds to be had. We...

Hedgehogs are the gardener's friend, munching their way through those pesky slugs and snails. Sadly, it's estimated that a quarter of the hedgehog population has been lost in the last ten years. Snoozing hedgehogs will be in for a treat as Burton Mere Wetlands are holding a make your own hogitat...

This autumn has seen the start of the ‘ war against willow’ sizable areas have been cleared behind the scrape on "IMF2" and also within the reedbed area. No need to panic though as this essential management work prevents the wetland areas from "scrubbing" over and keeps...

RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands, on the Dee Estuary, is inviting people to help celebrate its first birthday by offering free entry this weekend (Saturday 22 - Sunday 23 September). Over the past 12 months almost 30,000 people have visited the nature reserve, which was opened last year by BBC wildlife presenter...

It has not just been the visitors here at Burton Mere Wetlands enjoying today’s sun there has also been a number of Common Lizards sunbathing near our open top bunker hide. These dragons of the undergrowth are not so common as their name would suggest they have declined due mainly to habitat...

Its not only Team GB that have enjoyed a record haul of gold this past few weeks. Team Dee Estuary have four golds at the moment in the form of golden headed marsh harriers, not something I have experienced before here. As this excellent picture from Andy Davis shows they can easily be seen from...

If you believe the wading birds then perhaps it is ... or is it? Not many people know this but long distance migrating waders actually start returning to their wintering grounds in June! The evidence is clear here at Burton Mere Wetlands too as several spotted redshanks are present in full summer...

A first for the new Burton Mere Wetlands :) Finally, after a few months of regular nearby sightings a local (?) red kite shows itself and boy did we know about it - several hundred black-tailed godwits, avocets, black-headed gulls and lapwings mobbed it until it disappeared over the horizon - no wonder...

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...

Perhaps not the exact origin of the saying but coot chicks are very bald indeed! This is one of five on the pool just outside the reception building at Burton Mere Wetlands. We also have a newly hatched brood of greylag geese and five different broods of avocets, so babies are the feature of the...

"Seconds out, round two..." should be the cry as the ruff at Burton Mere Wetlands are duking it out! Don't worry though as their version of the duking it out is actually more of an showy dance. These fascinating birds become rather odd-looking at this time of year as their breeding hormones...

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...

Dear All It has been a long time since I had the time to sit down and update what we have been up to on the practical side of things! Sorry! You may have seen me this afternoon mowing half of the sacrificial crop – destructive as it may look there is a good reason for it! We mow it now before...