Print pageSeasonal highlights
Each season brings a different experience at our nature reserves. In spring, the air is filled with birdsong as they compete to establish territories and attract a mate. In summer, look out for young birds making their first venture into the outside world. Autumn brings large movements of migrating birds - some heading south to a warmer climate, others seeking refuge in the UK from the cold Arctic winter. In winter, look out for large flocks of birds gathering to feed, or flying at dusk to form large roosts to keep warm.
Spring
Courting great crested grebes, nesting mute swans, geese and ducks will have downy youngsters by May; flocks of migrating wading birds stop off; early butterflies.
Summer
Visiting birds include warblers, cuckoos, hobbies and common terns; mute swans gather to moult in safety; butterflies and dragonflies flit alongside the trails.
Autumn
Warblers feed up on berries in September before migrating south for the winter; ducks and wading birds arrive - some will stay through the winter, others will move on.
Winter
Starling flocks gather in the late afternoons to roost in the reedbeds, where bitterns may also be seen; rooks and jackdaws roost near the car park; gulls gather in the afternoons; large flocks of ducks on the lakes.