Well the past couple of days have certainly been better weather than we've had of late. Some showers, but nothing like the epic rain we've been having lately. The sun in the sky has brought with it visitors who have seen all manner of wonderful wildlife over the past few days.
The spoonbill that seems to have taken a shine to the reserve has been seen at Public hide today, as have 2 otters, at the fairly sociable hour of 9.45 am! The otters seem to be getting more active throughout the day which hopefully indicates they are feeding young - keep an eye out for them!
The exciting news of this week has been the hatching of our reed warbler chicks! There are 3 of them in the nest and mum and dad are taking it in turns to keep them warm and well fed. Reed warblers have a quick growth rate, so they should be ready to fledge by the last weekend in July. Check out all the action in the nest on our live webcam: http:/www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/leightonmoss/webcam.aspx">http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/leightonmoss/webcam.aspx (if this link doesn't work, copy it to your address bar, or go back to the Leighton Moss homepage and click on the 'Live webcam' option on the main menu).
The Cetti's warblers, including one of the juveniles are being seen regularly around Griesdale hide, and there have been more sights and sounds of Cetti's on the casueway.
The marsh harriers are flying well in the sun shine, and an osprey paid us a visit on 17 July.
Down on the saltmarsh, wader numbers seem to be increasing with sightings of 9 greenshanks, 3 common sandpipers and a ruff amongst the large flocks of redshanks and black-tailed godwits. There has also been 43 little egrets there.
A small flock of starlings is regularly seen on the reserve, and in amongst them at the moment is a white one! It hasn't been observed close up yet, so it could be an albino, or alternatively it could be leucistic, a genetic condition that basically means they lack the genes that tell them to be black.