Print pageStar species
Our star species are some of the most interesting birds you may see on your visit to the reserve.
Great crested grebes are renowned for their dramatic courtship displays, where the pair 'dances' together. Later in the year, watch for parent grebes carrying their stripy young on their backs! |  |
As their name suggests, little terns are the smallest of the British terns and nest colonially on the island at Hodbarrow. |  |
Red-breasted mergansers are fish-eating diving ducks which have jagged 'teeth' inside their bills to help them keep hold of their prey. |  |
Sandwich terns spend the winter off the west African coast before returning to locations like the Hodbarrow lagoon to breed. Look for the yellow tip to their black bills. |  |
Another warbler that returns from Africa in spring, the sedge warbler is easy to see because it 'pirhouettes' up into the air from the tops of the bushes, singing its scratchy song as it goes. |  |