Print pageStar species
Our star species are some of the most interesting birds you may see on your visit to the reserve.
Watch elegant avocets 'scooping up' microscopic, aquatic life in their amazing, sickle-shaped beaks. They nest in mini colonies and are fierce protectors of their young. |  |
You will often hear bearded tits before you see them. Listen for their bell-like 'pinging' calls, then watch them whizzing across the tops of the reeds. They perch up on the stems in calm weather and feed on fallen seeds on the mud at the base of the reeds. |  |
Flocks of brent geese come to feed on the fields and saltmarsh in winter. They can be seen in good numbers here from October and linger well into the spring to make sure their Arctic breeding grounds have thawed out. |  |
During migration, look for marsh harriers gliding over the reedbeds with their wings held upwards in a shallow 'v'. |  |
Wigeons arrive at Old Hall Marshes in autumn. You can watch large flocks grazing on vegetation here until the following spring when they depart for northern Europe to breed. |  |