Shorebird update

The eggs have hatched and most young have taken to the wing for their first tentative flights. However, the young of some of our late breeders are still balls of fluff and downy feathers, being furiously fed by attentive parents. For this reason, we have decided to keep the access restrictions in some areas of the Reserve in place for the time being. Locally breeding birds are now moving through the site with numbers of ringed plover slowly increasing and all 5 species of breeding UK Tern using the Reserve as a feeding and roosting site. This is more apparent in the restricted areas as the lack of disturbance creates makeshift refuges.

The Reserve is an important feeding ground

As we move into the last couple of weeks of August there will be a noticeable shift as the breeding birds begin their epic migrations south and the wintering birds arrive from their breeding grounds in the cool tundra. As many as 50,000 wildfowl, geese and waders descend on Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve to feed on the rich mudflats and eel grass beds.

50,000 birds descend on Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve each autumn/winter

Please keep dogs on leads and give birds the space to feed and roost without disturbance. In the coming weeks, we will be collating the data from the Shorebird season and will give you results of this strange season in due course.