Burton Mere Wetlands and Parkgate  16 August 2024

It had been a while since we were last at Burton Mere Wetlands so we were glad to get back to some decent birding. Our reward wasn’t to see any new species but we did see some nice birds and a pair of birds we had only ever seen singly.

We started out at the reception hide where we could see the usual geese and ducks but soon moved to the Bunker Hide where the viewing was much better. Whilst scanning the back edge of the water we saw a single Water Rail emerge from the reeds into a little bit of open water before running back into cover. We watched this bird come and go in and out of the reeds and were pleasantly surprised when it seemed to flush a second rail; this is the only time I have seen two Water Rails together!

There were several Ruff in various plumages and sized feeding along the near the reeds and a single Snipe. Whilst watching them, a Reed Warbler started to show itself and put on quite a show moving up and down a single reed stalk before hopping onto the next one and doing the same. This went on for about fifteen minutes and was very entertaining.

There were still a few Swallows and House Martins about. At the first blind there was a Great Egret at full stretch examining the reeds; I’m not quite sure what it would find there but perhaps it was Dragonflies which were everywhere on the site including some rare species – or so we were informed by the experts that were there.

We got Marsh Harrier and Buzzard as expected but up at the railway bridge we also saw, and heard, a pair of Ravens..

After Burton we went to Parkgate where we had lunch and also got four Spoonbills – a great ending to our birding outing.