Hugh’s News – 18 March 2025
The Bittern we saw on our Burton Mere Wetlands trip in February was still present when Ellie visited a couple of weeks ago, and was unusually cooperative for her to photograph.
Ellie also had a productive day at Lunt Meadows, with shots of Avocet, Kestrel and Wren.
Cranes are still rare in the UK, but their numbers are slowly increasing, partly through reintroduction schemes. Colin was very fortunate to see a pair of these elegant birds close up on a visit to Slimbridge.
Blue Tits are still visiting bird feeders as they build up reserves for raising their broods. This one was at Burton Mere Wetlands. Also there were a Greylag and a Canada Goose that appeared to have bonded, swimming around close together. If they end up breeding, I wonder what their goslings will look like?!
Some populations of Bar-tailed Godwits are renowned for their long-distance migrations. A juvenile godwit just 5 months old and with an ID ring on its leg, departed from Alaska on 13 October in 2024 and touched down in Ansons Bay in northeast Tasmania on 24th October. It looks to have flown non-stop to Tasmania. In the process it flew a minimum of 13,560km in 11 days 1 hour, apparently non-stop. A new world record for the longest non-stop migration!
Great pictures from Ellie, Colin and Hugh.
Hugh
