The RSPB Community

A bank holiday boom

Duncan Halpin — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:44:49 GMT

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 from the comfort of the reception hide.

This past weekend brought with it the first cuckoo sighting of the year and a stunning drake garganey showed well on the main scrape for most of saturday. The common terns have also arrived on the reserve with reports everyday since sunday and the avocets have well and truly settled in again this year with around 25 nesting on the reserve. Away from the water, the warblers have been in fine voice, as anyone on one of our successful early morning walks over the weekend will be able to verify. Sedge warbler, reed warbler, blackcap, grasshopper warbler, and common whitethroat have all been seen or heard.

The bluebells are out in the woodland and anyone wanting to get the best out of the woodland should grab themselves a place on our guided walk on Saturday the 18th May at 10am. By popular demand there will also be another dawn chorus walk on Sunday 19th May at 5am. Booking for these is essential so pop down or give us a ring on 0151 353 8478 to get a place. Full details: http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/d/dee-burtonmerewetlands/events.aspx

Elsewhere on the estuary the marsh at Parkgate is beginning to recover from the damage caused by the fire 4 weeks ago. Hopefully our wardening scheme will prevent any further incidents and the habitat can fully recover.

Finally, in matters more pedestrian, the A540 will be closed on Sunday 12th May from 9am till late morning between the A5117 to the Two Mills junction, there should be a diversion in place but getting here from that direction may take a bit longer.

When we asked for some warmth, we didn't mean this...

Dan Trotman — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:46:52 GMT

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 tackle the blaze, which destroyed the habitat of nesting birds and wildlife.

The fire, which police believe was started deliberately, spread across Neston Reedbed and Parkgate Marsh, causing damage to the reserve and a number of residents’ garden fences. Fortunately no-one was injured in the blaze, however the incident has raised repeated safety concerns from RSPB staff as arson attacks on the site have been an ongoing problem for a number of years.

Our Site Manager, Colin Wells, said: “There is a team of volunteers who warden the area in the evenings to try and discourage people from starting fires, which has successfully prevented any for a few years, but sadly not this year. We are concerned this could lead to a more serious accident.”

The fire has had a damaging impact on local wildlife, particularly harvest mice, as many may have been killed in the blaze. Colin said: “The last few weeks have been dry and combined with a cold easterly wind, the vegetation on the marsh has dried out, which meant the fire spread quickly."

“The harvest mice will have lost their habitat and many of them may have been injured or killed. The area is an important breeding ground for birds such as reed warblers, reed buntings and water rail. Fortunately, due to the recent weather, few birds have nested yet but they will have lost their nesting areas. This loss of habitat is devastating.”

Despite the fire, there is still a significant area of reedbed remaining and we will continue our wardening scheme through the Spring to ensure no further incidents arise. Police are treating the fire as a potential arson case. Anyone with any information is asked to call Ellesmere Port and Neston Neighbourhood Policing Team on 0845 458 6373.

We would like to thank everyone for their support over the last two days and we will keep you updated with any further developments as they happen.

Practical stuff!

Rhian — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:30:00 GMT

Hello

I have a day in the office so I thought I would use my time wisely by writing to you all J

Our tenant farmer and his shepherd are lambing at full pelt now down at Burton Marsh Farm. The sheds are full and the vet students have arrived to gain work experience and to help. Lambing occurs indoors here due to the obvious hazards that the sheep and lambs would have to face if lambed on the marsh – weather not included!! Once the lambs are a few days old and the ewes are showing they have enough milk and common sense to look after their babies they will be turned out in to the fields. You may therefore notice that there are only 600 or so sheep currently on the marsh; they will lamb next year.

The last couple of months have seen some pretty big tides on the marsh and volunteers have helped myself and the shepherd bring the sheep in. This is no easy task, especially last week when the snow had obliterated all of the paths meaning that neither the sheep nor we knew which way to go! A big thanks to our budding shepherds and shepherdesses Les, Roy, Greg, Simon and Rachel. Rachel really did get stuck in and was soon helping sort and identify sheep with us in the pens.

Those of you who have been down to Burton Point recently will have seen that there is a brand spanking new boardwalk crossing the MOD ranges allowing you to walk to Wales! There are some excellent birding spots from the railway embankment across the border pool and the back of IMF2 which are well worth visiting. I am going to bring my bike to work one day to try it out at lunch time! The first wheatears have been spotted along the marsh road along with pairing up stone chats and the short eared owl can still be spotted.

New fences have been going up everywhere too, around Burton Point and along Chapel Field. We are soon to fence the fields by the farm itself to complete the good image of tidy fences! I can’t wait to see how our hedge turns out this spring and in years to come. With the help of the Wirral Countryside Volunteers we have laid about 100m alongside Chapel Field. It was a tough hedge to do due to its age making the wood very brittle and not easy to bend!

The month sees the start of our survey season. I love it J Birds singing on a beautiful early morning really is a perk of the job. We will also be writing up our annual reports for the Mersey and Dee Estuary summing up our achievements and bird numbers for the last year. It is also time to update our management plan. This is only done every 5 years so is a BIG task.

Take care and see you soon, Rhian

"Much about?"

Dan Trotman — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:33:12 GMT

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 had a number of good sightings to please those who have braved the weather.

That first avocet quickly moved on, but ten days ago we had three fresh arrivals, gradually growing in number to the eleven we have today; making themselves at home on the main scrape, hopefully preparing to nest on the same "avocet island" as last year. In amongst the usual wintering waders were a handful of spotted redshank for much of the past two months, along with two to three hundred golden plover, not a common sight here on the Dee Estuary.

One of our keen-eyed regular visitors picked up a solitary corn bunting in a mixed flock of winter finches and reed buntings making the most of our sacrificial seed crop a short distance from the reception hide. The lesser scaup which had been picked up on pools around the south end of the estuary for weeks made a brief appearance at Burton Mere Wetlands, mingling with the tufted duck on the reception pool.

After widespread disappointment that we'd not had a bittern this winter, a couple of reliable sources have reported brief glimpses in the reedbed from Marsh Covert hide - will it stick around for the summer and how long until we hear one booming?! Visitors to the Inner Marsh Farm hide last wednesday were treated to this winter's first sighting of a green-winged teal, along with a Cetti's warbler perched on a bulrush in front of the hide. Today, that side of the reserve has had reports of a single ruff on passage (or will we be lucky enough to see courtship behaviour again like last year?).

Soon we'll bid farewell to our winter flocks, and the iconic short-eared owls and hen harriers will leave our marshes for their higher breeding grounds; a worrying time for the latter, after their pitiful recent breeding success, we must hope that the increased efforts of the RSPB to protect them on the heather moorlands will begin to make a difference.

For daily updates on sightings at the RSPB Dee Estuary reserve and all around the Wirral and north-east Wales, visit http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/index.html

Wanted: Marine Protection for England’s vulnerable sealife

Dan Trotman — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:44:00 GMT

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 tern species including the increasingly threatened little tern, making it a fantastic example of how faithful seabirds are to the sites they use every year. Thankfully many of our seabird colonies on land are protected from damaging human activities; however the important areas that these birds use at sea are not.

It’s a sad truth that this story is the same all around the UK - seabirds' nest sites are currently protected, but as soon as they leave the shore to hunt for food for themselves and their chicks, they face threats such as entanglement in fishing nets and disturbance from offshore developments in unprotected waters.

I’d like to thank everyone who Stepped Up for Nature and signed our Marine Pledge. In November 2011, thanks to your support, we were able to hand-in over 50,000 signatures to Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon and show the UK Government that many people care about marine wildlife including the fate of our seabirds.

But we must ask you to take further action.

In September 2011, 127 Marine Conservation Zones in English waters were recommended by a wide range of stakeholders for consultation. Hilbre Island, sitting in the mouth of the Dee Estuary, is itself one of the recommended Marine Conservation Zones thanks to its important geology and habitats for marine life. However the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) only intend to take less than a quarter of these forward for designation. What’s more, seabirds and other species such as basking sharks and dolphins will not be given any protection by these Marine Conservation Zones.

What you can do to help:

Click on our e-action now to let Defra know that that they need to implement a network of Marine Conservation Zones, which offers full and comprehensive protection for all our marine wildlife, including seabirds, without further delay. Why not also add a personal flavour to your e-mail by describing why the UK coast is so special to you and why our marine environment needs protecting.

White Wingers

Austin Morley — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:15:00 GMT

"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 and the wide variations of juvenile plumage, these can be some of the most challenging birds to identify.

Over the weekend, we have had black-headed gull, common gull, herring gull, Mediterranean gull and the lovely little gull all make an appearance on our main scrape all visible from the visitor reception hide.

The best tip we can give is to look at the bird’s wings, or wing tips; most of our common gull species have black primary feathers on their wing tips, which fold back along its tail feathers but the more unusual, and rarer gulls have white wing tips.

Below shows three pictures the first two showing the little gull and the third the Mediterranean gull.

Little gull by Austin Morley: See the small balck bill, white wing tips, no black hood (adult out of breeding plumage) this is the worlds smallest gull.

Little gull by Austin Morley: This picture shows the black under wings another distinctive characteristics of little gulls.

Mediterranean gull by Austin Morley: This picture shows the birds adult plumage with full black cap, red bill and pure white wing tips.

So keep your eyes open and check through the flocks of gulls as your might get lucky and see a rare and unusual gull amongst them

http://austinmorley.blogspot.co.uk/

A duck lesser in name only

Austin Morley — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:37:00 GMT

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 no less great.

This bird has been loitering around the areas for a few weeks now and was first spotted near one of the border pools of Shotwick Boating Lake, hanging around with the local tufted ducks.

Therefore, what is a lesser scaup and how does it differ from the scaup? Well have a look at theses stunning pictures below the first one shows its bill nail really well, this is the black spot on the tip of its bill. On a lesser scaup this bill nail is narrow and small while on the scaup its tends to be much larger and wider across the tip. The lesser scaup also tends to have more white and dark colouration on its flanks then the scaup.

Besides the bill, what really marks the scaups either Lesser or Greater apart from the coloration of the back and flanks of this bird while paddling around on the lake.The second picture shows the notch on its head, this is another distinguishing feature of lesser scaup.

Sorry guys, that was confusing! Nevertheless, beyond that, these are beautiful birds, rare birds whether lesser or Greater.

So here is an assignment for you. Get outdoors with your binoculars and try to find some of these brilliant birds they can come to any fresh water pond or lake and can even bee seen off shore in rafts of floating wildfowl.

Photo by Austin Morley: Showing the small narrow black bill nail.

Photo by Austin Morley: Showing the birds flanks and pale back pattern.

Half Term Fun at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands

Austin Morley — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 11:51:31 GMT

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 the different wildlife, animals and plant species to be found on the wetlands.

We have our fantastic welly bog, this can be found along our reedbed trail and is a great place for kids and adults to splash around and make some mess in the great outdoors.

Why not bring an old pair of wellies and we will give you some advice and materials to bling your wellies, why have just plane boring wellies when you can encuarge your children to use their imagination and artistic skills to brighten up their wellies.

This half term we also have a welly quiz and trail that you and your families can take part in, the trail will take you to all parts of the nature reserve in to the woods and around the mere’s to the reed bed trail. The quiz is suitable for all ages and is a self-guided activity so you can do a spot of wildlife watching along the way!

Children and adults alike can enjoy all this for FREE this half term. Normal entry charges apply fro non-members.

So bring your kids and your wellies and have some half term fun!

All smiles in the welly bog!!

Then back to the visitor centre to bling up this welly! And what an awesome design of a purple dino, real scary!

Warden winter welly walks!

Rhian — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 16:44:34 GMT

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 tenant farmer and his shepherd bring in the sheep off the marsh. Getting my waders filled with water each and every time in deep creeks!!!! brrrrrrr cold feet. Colin and Geoff were both on hand to help to along with volunteer Les who has some farming experience. It is nice to see all the sheep tucked up dry on the MOD ranges and in the shed!

Today we had our first spring avocet at BMW! spring is in the air! Skylarks and redshank have been singing on territory out on Burton Marsh and I am sure many of you have heard birds in your garden singing away.

If you have not walked along marsh road recently then you may be in for a surprise! A new cycle route is being developed with Sustrans, CWAC and Flintshire County Council. New surfaces and boardwalk are going in allowing access straight through to Wales. Watch out for the sheep mind! Works are to be completed by April so apologies for any inconvenience in the meantime with wagons and mud etc.

This week with the help of the Wirral Conservation Group we will be carrying out some hedge laying at Chapel Field. This field belongs to CWAC and we rent it off them. We are therefore going to do some hedge management. I think it will look very different once done but don’t worry it is for the benefit of the hedge. All the cuttings will go to the zoo to feed the giraffes and elephants!

The last few weeks have been dominated by volunteers helping us cut and remove willow from a variety of places around the reserve. Ditches, the reedbed, IMF1 and behind the scrape on IMF2. Some of it we have been unable to remove due to the ground being too wet to get vehicular access. Therefore we have had fires in situ with baked potato in foil cooked in the ashes as a treat!

See you all soon, Rhian

(Video) Get ready for Big Garden Bird Watch

Paul Brady — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:46:00 GMT

(Please visit the site to view this video)

We want you as our new recruit!

Paul Brady — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:22:03 GMT

Do you want to gain 6 months experience of working on one of the RSPB's best nature reserves?

If so then our internship programme may just be for you ... we give you all the training and opportunities to get your foot in the door, just ask Austin Morley (RSPB Blogger).

Click on this link to find out all the details http://www.rspb.org.uk/volunteering/6282-visitor-officer-internship-dee-estuary or contact Paul Brady/Daniel Trotman on 0151 353 8478

Applications must be recieved before Sunday 10th February

Star Gazing LIVE featuring Hilbre Island

Austin Morley — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:42:32 GMT

Tonight at 8pm on Stargazing LIVE, BBC 2 you can see a stunning short clip of around 10 seconds long of a stunning starscape taken by one of our very own volunteer Ron Thomas.

You might never have thought about photographing the night sky before, but if you ever find yourself in a location with little light pollution on a clear moon-free night, it’s something you will enjoy trying!

Ron and his son Matt Thomas who is a West Kirby warden spent a night back in February doing some astrophotography on Hilbre Island where they managed to capture the motion of the starts through the night sky, these images are often called star trails.

This technique is archived by in either one of two ways-one is by taking a single "long exposure" photo, and the other is to take a series of photos and then sandwich them together into one photo.

So join Professor Brian Cox and Dara O’Briainfor the hottest three nights of stargazing and discussion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019h4g8/features/events

Photo by Matt Thomas www.fromthemuddybanksofthedee.com

Give it some welly!

Paul Brady — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:14:03 GMT

To start the year on a good footing, we're asking you donate your unwanted, worn-out wellies to help us celebrate ‘Welly Season’ in style.

From green gardener’s wellies or trendy festival wellies to pink with polka dot wellies, you can bring your old pairs to us, where we will put them to good use for ‘Welly Season’. Running from mid-January to the end of March, we will be delivering a season of welly-related activities for all the family to get involved in.

Maybe Santa brought you a brand new shiny pair of wellies for Christmas, but you don’t know what to do with your old ones – well, bring them to us and we’ll show you how to put them to good use.

Donated wellies will be transformed into miniature gardens or bird feeders, and staff and volunteers at the sites will be on hand to show visitors what to do.

On our reserve, we wear wellies to carry out lots of different work on a daily basis. But there’s also a lot of fun to be had with them, from jumping in puddles to decorating them with glitter and paint.

Visitors will be able to ‘Bling their Boots’, and the reserves will be providing craft materials for people wanting to decorate their wellies on site. They will then be encouraged to share pictures of their wellies on the RSPB Burton Mere Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/RspbBurtonMereWetlands.

The reserve will also be running a special ‘Wardens Welly Walk’ event on Saturday 19 January, which offers a unique chance to go behind the scenes to find out all about how the wetland habitats are managed.

There are plenty of activities planned throughout the season which will excite all the family, from welly quiz trails to welly walks for pushchair pushers, and there may even be a spot of welly wanging.

Anyone wanting to donate their old wellies can take them along to their local RSPB nature reserve. For more information, visit www.rspb.org.uk/burtonmerewetlands.

Water Rail

Paul Brady — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:07:46 GMT

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

Business Open as Usual

Paul Brady — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:59:04 GMT

Just thought I'd give you potential visitors a heads up, despite the road closure in Burton Village we are open as usual.

Access from the A540 is possible via Dunstan Lane, Mudhouse Lane or Puddington Lane as uuaul despiet the signs saying the roads are closed.

Travel from the Neston area however may be affected as the road closure seems to be from the Station rd junction to just past Burton Manor.

Also to note that RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands is open (9am - 5pm) everyday except Christmas Day

Dusk Walk Delivers

Paul Brady — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:47:43 GMT

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, water rail and this lovely little stonechat ....

Also out and about on the reserve the woodlands hold a good number of goldcrests .... I personally saw at least five by the entrance to Gorse Covert Woodland trail

Feeding time at the zoo

Paul Brady — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:21:34 GMT

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 Mere’s land management programme, the site regularly cuts back plants and hedges on rotation to ensure the land stays healthy and is suitable for wildlife to flourish. During the winter months, the site mostly cuts back willow, but the zoo has also been supplied with hawthorn, elm and beech, which have been cut whilst trimming hedges throughout the year.

Rhian Pierce, Farmland Warden at RSPB Burton Mere, said: “I first contacted Chester Zoo after hearing of similar arrangements working in other parts of the country. They were more than happy to take the waste vegetation off our hands and basically collect as much as we can cut.

“The arrangement works perfectly for us as otherwise we would have to dispose of the vegetation by burning it – which is extremely time-consuming. We make sure we don’t give them anything like laurel, elder or rhododendron though, as these would be poisonous to the animals.”

Animals such as giraffes and rhinos require their food fresh, so generally receive it within 1-2 days of cutting. However, elephants will eat the bark off wood up to a week old, which has been useful for Burton Mere as they can’t always immediately remove what has been cut, due to bad weather for example.

Anthony Hutchinson, who runs Chester Zoo’s animal supplies team, said: “Our animals can get through around three tonnes of food per day, which means we have a rather large food bill to ensure they receive a well-balanced diet. Giraffes alone can spend between 16 and 20 hours a day feeding, so we’re grateful for any help offered to us with food supplies.”

Burton Mere Wetlands is open daily, with the reception building open from 9.30am until 5pm. The reserve is just 10 minutes from the M56, off the A540 (Chester High Road). Entry is £4 for adults (concessions £2), £6 for a family and £1 for children.

For further details please call 0151 353 8478, email deeestuary@rspb.org.uk or visit www.rspb.org.uk/burtonmerewetlands.

Tree-mendous Fun at Burton Mere Wetlands

Paul Brady — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:51:51 GMT

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 part. This is a great chance to do something positive for the environment. Not everybody has a garden big enough to plant a tree so why not come and plant one at your local RSPB reserve

During the event there will be a number of free family activities, including bark rubbing, a tricky tree quiz trail and a tree identification walk. A local nursery will be supplying native trees and hedges for sale over the weekend.

RSPB staff and volunteers will also be on hand to provide advice on the many different kinds of wildlife, with a free guided walk taking place at 2pm on the day. There will be plenty of free wildlife-friendly gardening advice available.

Please phone 0151 353 8478 for times, details and a full programme of activities. Alternatively email deeestuary@rspb.org.uk or visit www.rspb.org.uk/burtonmerewetlands.

National Tree Week is an annual event run by The Tree Council, and will be taking place from 24 November – 2 December 2012.

The "funky chicken"

Paul Brady — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:03:29 GMT

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

Grey Ghost of Burton Mere ...

Paul Brady — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:45:07 GMT

A ghostly grey figure has been haunting Burton Mere Wetlands on a regular basis and many visitors have seen it, in fact some have even photographed it ...

But no need to worry if you're afraid of the dark this stunning male hen harrier is the culprit! He has been showing on and off throughout the day today as well :)

Big thanks to Andy Davis for the photograph.

Living the High Life

Austin Morley — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:59:13 GMT

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 parked ourselves just off the Donkey Stand Flash with the
date with nature marquee and pointed out to the passersby and ice cream lovers,
yes people where still eating their tutti frutti ice creams even in this cold
weather!

We were treated to spectacular views of both male and female
ring tail hen harriers hunting low over the marsh alongside two furious merlin
and teal were pushed off the marsh in huge numbers while a single short eared
owl was hunting in front of the Boat House Pub. We also spotted two great white
egrets feasting just off the Donkey Stand Flash.

Hoylake’s high tide yesterday was superb Colin Wells Burton
Mere Wetland’s site manager said ‘It was the best he had ever seen’ the tide
came in fast and forced hundreds of knot, oystercatcher and black tailed
godwits together. As the birds shuffled and jostled on the shoreline it was the
knot who took first giving us a spectacular display, they were followed by the
other warders which added to the awesome display. A single female sparrowhawk tried her luck dashing through the flocks of
wading birds, but this times she was unsuccessful.

Both days were BRILLIANT please join us again on theses future
events.

Time for Bed......Hogitat Making at Burton Mere Wetlands

Austin Morley — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 08:22:00 GMT

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 home for hedgehogs FREE EVENT which offers a taste of luxury living for hedgehogs in the upcoming months. Just by using a cardboard box, a bin liner and some dry leaves, twigs and moss, we’ll be creating DIY hedgehog shelters and showing visitors how easy it is for them to help hedgehogs at home.

And as well as a spot of house-building, visitors to the reserve will be able to take part in a wide variety of activities, from following the hedgehog quiz trail, to making a pine cone hog and other craft making.

Please come down and get involved with us, this FUN FREE EVENT is suitable for children and families

Sunday 18 November and Sunday 25 November

10 am to 4 pm

Price: Free; normal admission charges apply

Smiles all round as theses two hogitat architects make a home for hedgehogs.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-328023

Another first for Burton Mere Wetlands (Picture included)

Paul Brady — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:30:00 GMT

Making Giraffe Food

Rhian — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:42:00 GMT

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 the land in a favourable condition for breeding waders such as lapwing, snipe and redshank.

The going was tough following all the wet weather but huge mounds have been created and most of the willow has gone to Chester Zoo to feed the giraffes and rhinos!

Last week Geoff and I strimmed the wildflower area around the car park and raked off the cuttings. This is to remove the nutrients from the soil as wildflowers like nutrient poor soil. Volunteers then helped bash the cuttings over a piece of tarpaulin to remove the seeds which we then sowed on other parts around the car park.

Some of you may have noticed that we have taken down the fence directly in front of the reception building. We have also strimmed the area to open up the view over the reception scrape – happy birding!

That’s all for now, see you soon

New footage from Point of Ayr hide

Paul Brady — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:34:41 GMT

[View:https://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10151324005100466¬if_t=video_processed]