Mere Sands Wood

Kingfisher
 

Visitor Nathan Wilde was in the right place at the right time to photograph this Kingfisher at Mere Sands Wood. 

The kingfisher is a colourful bird of rivers and streams. It can be spotted sitting quietly on low-hanging branches over the water, suddenly diving in to catch a small fish. Kingfishers live in burrow-like nests near lakes and other waterways, choosing a perfect spot for fishing.

Did you know...that a group of Kingfishers is called a concentration?

Peacock Butterfly

Nathan saw lots of wildlife on his walk at Mere Sands Wood, but we particularly enjoyed this stunning close-up of a peacock butterfly. 

Perhaps our most familiar butterfly, the peacock is deep-red with black spots and blue 'eyespots' on both the forewings and hindwings. Its underside is dark brown, making the wings look like dead leaves.

We join Butterfly Conservation each July-August for The Big Butterfly Count. Simply choose a bright spot, and count as many different species of butterflies you see over a 15 minute period. Be a citizen scientist with the rest of the nation by uploading your sightings here until 10 August! You can download a free identification guide, and recording app too. 

Fungi

Regular visitors to our Mere Sands Wood Reserve will know that it is a mushroom hunter's dream!

Sarah shared her fungal finds with us on social media after her visit, saying it was a 'Happy surprise to find such mushroom colour yesterday; a pale russala, common earth balls, a sensational chicken of the woods that was paprika coloured plus incredible fresh beefsteak fungus that was 'sunset orange!''

The reserve is rich in fungi, with over 200 species recorded. Find out more about visiting Mere Sands Wood here, and explore the magical kingdom of fungi here.

Chat Moss

Treecreeper

Treecreepers are so-called because they always climb upwards on a trunk, often spiraling around the tree as they go. When they reach the top, they fly to the bottom of a new tree and start again. It's thought that this could be an adaptation to save energy, as flying from a high point to a low point takes less effort than level flight.

They are residents in the UK, leaving their breeding territories in autumn, but usually going no further than a few kilometres. In autumn and winter, treecreepers often join flocks of tits, roaming woodlands and parks for food.

Peregrine Falcon

We were delighted when regular visitor Kevin Bradshaw shared this photo of one of the planet's fastest animals! Seen on Chat Moss on 25 July, we're grateful that this magnificent raptor can hunt and rest on our reserve.

The peregrine is our biggest falcon; it is dark slate-grey above and white below, with black bars across its chest and belly. It has a white throat and cheeks, and a strong, black moustache and mask.

Peregrines are among the fastest animals on the planet, reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour when 'stooping' - diving down on its prey from a great height. Prey is usually taken mid-air and consists mostly of birds like feral pigeons and collared doves.

Tawny owl

Classified in the UK as 'Amber' under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds (2021), Kevin Bradshaw sighted this beautiful tawny owl sitting peacefully in a tree.

Like other owls, tawny owl can famously turn their head through 270 degrees and are able to look behind them. Although owls have binocular vision, their forward-facing eyes cannot move in their sockets, so they must turn their heads instead.

Brockholes

Roe deer and fawn

We receive sightings each month of our roe deer at Brockholes Nature Reserve. We love that people regularly experience the magic of these graceful creatures, whether it's their first visit of their fiftieth visit to us. 

Jade Swindells submitted this particularly lovely photo of a roe doe and her little fawn mooching in the grass.

Mating season occurs this month July into August, but females delay implantation of the fertilised egg until January of the following year, so that the young are not born during the harsh winter months.

Meadow Grasshopper

The meadow grasshopper is mostly green in colour, with a dark, grey-brown stripe running across the flank to the eye; however, brown and purplish forms also occur. It has short forewings that do not reach the end of its abdomen.

Brian Smith kindly submitted this sighting from his visit to Brockholes.

This grasshopper is similar to the Field grasshopper, but without the 'hairy chest'. Best identified by its song, which is a regular 'rrrr' sound.

Did you know...that the meadow grasshopper is the only flightless grasshopper in the UK? It has no hindwings.

Red fox

Jeff from The North Lancs Wildlife Group shared his photo of a young fox at Brockholes. 

It looks like the fox spotted Jeff at the same time Jeff took the photograph!

The red fox is our only wild member of the dog family. They are not fussy eaters and will happily munch on small mammals, birds, frogs, worms as well as berries and fruit! Foxes that live in towns and cities may even scavenge in bins to look for scraps. A male fox, called a dog makes a barking noise whereas the females, called vixens make a spine-chilling scream sound.

Hobby

The hobby is a small falcon, smaller than a kestrel. With their long wings and streamlined shape, they are perfectly evolved for catching dragonflies and small birds, such as house martins and swifts, on the wing, often transferring their quarry from talon to mouth in mid-air. They are a migratory species, coming to the UK in summer to breed and wintering in Africa. Hobbies can be seen hunting over heathlands, flooded gravel pits and woodland edges.

Middleton Nature Reserve

Whitethroat

Classified in the UK as 'Amber' under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds (2021). This pretty bird is a medium-sized, long-tailed warbler of grassland, scrub and hedgerows. It is a summer visitor and passage migrant, breeding in many areas, but avoiding urban and mountainous places. Males whitethroats build nests out of twigs and roots and the females then decide which to take. whitethroats winter in Africa, leaving our shores in early October and heading as far as South Africa.

Thanks to regular visitor and wildlife lover Janet Packham for sharing her sightings with us. Her patience and love for walking on our reserves and photographing wildlife always pays off!