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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...

"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...

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...

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...

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...

Up to three hen harriers are back on the Dee Estuary already so get yourself down to Parkgate this weekend from 12 noon to see them. Look for the green "Love Nature" marquee on the promenade at Parkgate and you could get views like this .... Female Hen Harrier by A. Davis

Redwing looking for food Burton

A 1st person view from the reception building over the new 5 hectare wader scrape at The RSPB's Dee Estaury Nature Reserve. NB This part of the reserve will not be open to the public until later in the year.

Close-up of the building with the new 5 hectare wader scrape in the background. The gabion walls of the building will soon become a habitat for invertebrates of all shapes and sizes.

Taken from Burton Point a view across the Inner Marsh Farm pools toward the under-construction reception building at Burton Mere

One of a pair of blue tit inspecting the plants at Burton Mere ... this wildlife hedgerow around the car park was planted by pupils of Bishop Wilson Primary School, Burton whilst the plants themsleves were kindly donated by Ness Botanic Gardens :)

Progress on the Reception Building at Burton Mere