November was a month filled with wildlife delights as bright crisp mornings melted into long dark nights.

Brockholes

Brockholes is a magical reserve to visit at any time of year, with wildlife sightings that fill us with both awe and delight.

With the colder months come swathes of starlings that fill our skies with their hypnotic murmurations, pulsating and shapeshifting in the final few hours of light. 

We look forward to murmurations every year at Brockholes but in some unexpected wildlife news, a kittiwake was also spotted at the reserve in November. These red-listed gulls are most commonly found on clifftops and rock ledges around the coast, only turning up inland on odd occasions.

Last month, another surprise came in the form of a rather special encounter with one of our more elusive creatures, the stoat. Closely related to weasels and otters, stoats have creamy white bellies and black-tipped tails. Tony's stunning photos of this playful character enjoying the winter sunshine at Brockholes bought a smile to so many faces this month.

Lunt Meadows

Situated alongside the River Alt, Lunt Meadows in North Merseyside is a spectacular wetland nature reserve and a particularly special place to enjoy both barn owl and short-eared owl displays.

Last month, Lunt Meadows was sprinkled with colour; from the bright white of the little egret to the electric blue flash of a kingfisher and the rusty orange of a red fox skulking through the grass, captured beautifully in the photo below by the talented Kevin Hall.

Little Woolden Moss

Part of a recovering landscape across Greater Manchester, Little Woolden Moss is now being lovingly restored from a former peat extraction site into a wildlife haven. From the delicate to the magnificent, Little Woolden Moss offered it all this November.

Bog rosemary, with its pretty pink bell-shaped flowers, has been found growing on the site last month, a small but significant promise that Little Woolden Moss is returning to its former glorious and boggy self. 

Meanwhile, a hen harrier has been spotted soaring in the skies above Little Woolden Moss. Hen harriers are one of the most endangered breeding birds of prey in the country, we hope our restoration works will ensure that this individual has a plentiful source of food over the colder months.

South Walney

November bought adorable new arrivals to South Walney Nature Reserve in Cumbria as the pupping season commenced.

Grey seals start life out with fluffy white coats, suckling on their mother's high-fat milk for the first two to three weeks of their lives, and trebling in weight.

After this point, the adults head back out to sea whilst the pups stay behind on the beach for a further three weeks, living off their fat reserves whilst they moult their white coats and grow a grey waterproof one.

The Living Seas North West team works hard to monitor the grey seal populations at South Walney and to ensure the colony is protected from disturbance. 

What will you spot at our nature reserves this month? Let us know on social media using the buttons below.