Wildlife of Lancashire
WWT Martin Mere’s 600 acre nature reserve welcomes thousands of migratory species every year.
In November and December the Whooper Swans which arrive from Iceland to spend the winter at Martin Mere can build up to 2000 birds.
Pink-footed Geese numbers can be high but tend to drop back in December. Huge numbers of wildfowl arrive to winter. If the weather stays relatively mild we can have big flocks of Lapwing. Peregrine and Merlin are regular, Hen Harrier and Marsh Harrier can be about. In recent years we have had up to 30,000 Starlings roosting on the reserve, so check the daily sighting below to see the current status.
In November and December the Whooper Swans which arrive from Iceland to spend the winter at Martin Mere can build up to 2000 birds. Watch the spectacle of these swans being fed everyday at 3pm and 3.30pm from November to March
Andy’s Martin Mere diary Blog from Centre Manager at WWT Martin Mere
Whooper swans fly to Martin Mere in record numbers
1,940 whooper swans were counted in December 2010 at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s (WWT) Martin Mere centre earlier – the previous record was 1,860. The swans spend the summer in Iceland and use Martin Mere as a winter roost. In the 1970s the maximum count for Whooper swans was less than 10 at at the wetland. But a secure roost built in an area where the post-harvest waste potatoes and cereal stubbles provide a good food supply for the birds, saw an increase in numbers of whooper swans during the 1980s and 1990s.”
It is the first time since 2006 spoonbills – which mainly breed in Spain and Holland before migrating to north Africa – have visited the centre
Mere’s oldest swan returns home
A 21-year-old male whooper swan which is estimated to have flown 40,000 miles (64,000 km) in its lifetime has returned to Lancashire. The birds spend the summer breeding in Iceland and fly to England for winter.
Ribble coast and wetlands regional park
This special area is one of the most important places for birdlife in Europe and home to internationally significant numbers of ducks, geese, swans and wading birds. It is a place of landscape contrasts; vast sun-baked sands, flocks of wading birds scurrying along the tidal edge, windswept dunes full of colourful butterflies and wildflowers, and marshes with gently grazing cattle. Low tide uncovers vast salt marshes and mudflats an apparent desolate wasteland, but the mud supports multitudes of small burrowing creatures, which feed the birds for which the Ribble Estuary is so important.
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Fears about the impact of last December’s severe weather, the coldest in 100 years, were unfounded. The drop in small bird populations witnessed in the 
The oldest osprey of the UK – and probably the world – has returned to her eyrie in the Scottish highlands. When she left for West Africa at the end of last summer, no one expected her to return. At 26 she’s lived 3 times longer than most female ospreys. In her life she’s laid 58 eggs and hatched 48 chicks, a massive individual contribution to the survival of ospreys in Scotland, where there are still only about 200 breeding pairs. The questions now are if her mate will return and if she is still fertile. Events can be followed on the 
The construction company currently finishing off the Shard building in London, which will be the UK’s tallest skyscraper, recently had to call the council to remove a squatter from the 72nd floor: a young fox. He was surviving on scraps left by builders. After a check-up at the Riverside Animal Centre, the fox has been released on the streets of Bermondsey, having shown the type of curiosity we associate with cats. 
Otters, water voles and fish are all benefitting from the improved quality of the UK’s waterways, now described as the cleanest since the industrial revolution. Since almost disappearing from the wild in the 1970s, otters are thriving, particularly in the south west of England, Cumbria and Northumberland. The population of water voles, highly precarious in the 1990s, is also beginning to recover. The good results of stricter pollution controls and extensive conservation work are set to continue in the new year with the introduction of new European water quality directives. 
