Ducks dabbled, fungi fruited and starlings swooped across Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. Take a look at our latest wildlife sightings to see what you could spot in the weeks ahead.

Mere Sands Wood

Candlesnuff fungus, with an appearance like snuffed out candle wicks, added a cosy Christmas atmosphere to Mere Sands Wood in December. Jelly ear fungus appeared on the trees in great numbers, as if the wood was listening in on visitors’ conversations and festive wishes. Goldfinches, kingfishers and nuthatches brightened up even the bleakest December days and, on the lakes, teal and goosanders enjoyed quiet fishing opportunities.

If you want to visit Mere Sands Wood in January, please remember that the car park and visitor centre will be closed for the whole month. The reserve itself is still open and accessible on foot, via public footpaths and the reserve trails.

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Brockholes

Brockholes has a quiet beauty in winter. Last month, roe deer frolicked through frost-laden fields and the birds looked Christmas-card perfect against the sparkling backdrop, as you can see above! Reed buntings busied themselves stripping seeds from the grasses and siskins fed on alder cones in Boilton Wood, where jelly ear fungus, scarlet elf cup and yellow brain fungus put on a show.

The belted kingfisher may have moved on from the reserve for the time being, but there was still plenty to get excited about! The starling murmurations reached 10,000-strong, a great skua flew around Number One Pit and regular birder Bill Aspin captured this superb footage of a bittern creeping through the reeds.

The bittern was spotted on both Meadow Lake and Number One Pit, where there are countless ducks and waders to spot too. Teal, wigeon, gadwall, goldeneye, snipe, curlew and green sandpiper were just a handful of the species recorded in December.

Lunt Meadows

Lunt Meadows proved another great place for a spot of winter birdwatching in December. During our Winter Wildlife Walk event, the group spotted snipe, little egrets, greenfinches and stonechats amongst lots of other species, from wintering teal to noisy lapwings. Barn owls were also seen hunting around the reserve, including an individual with just one leg! This doesn’t hamper its hunting and the owl is becoming something of a reserve celebrity.

Astley Moss

Staff and volunteers were hard at work clearing scrub on Astley Moss in December, thankfully under some clear skies as well as gloomy ones! As they worked under a rainbow, they were rewarded with a twig covered in acid-yellow witch’s butter, also known as yellow brain fungus. It feeds on dead wood and, if it appeared on the gate or door of a house, it was reputed that a witch had cast a spell on the family living there.

Our team also found a lovely crop of bog cranberry growing on a sphagnum hummock in the middle of a pool. This lovely little plant grows largely on healthy lowland raised peat bogs like Astley Moss, so is threatened with loss due to peat extraction for horticulture.

Heysham harbour

It was business as usual at Heysham harbour in December – not that that’s a bad thing! This time of year always guarantees clusters of waders and wildfowl on the shoreline and some scarcer species out at sea. There was a high-count of 35 pale-bellied Brent geese feeding on the north shore, with two dark-bellied Brent geese joining them on 31 December. Red Nab seemed to be the venue of choice for peckish birds as 100 wigeon, 14 greenfinches, a little egret, three rock pipits and a kingfisher were all recorded feeding in the area.

What volunteers at first thought may have been a cormorant preening off Heysham Head turned out to be a shag, and it was seen there throughout the month. One lucky volunteer even watched it catch a blenny! 500 knot were also counted roosting in this area, but this wasn’t the highest bird count of the month… that accolade goes to the 2,000 oystercatchers. If that wasn’t enough, a large group of ringed plover sheltered behind the foreshore on a particularly blustery day and more than 100 eider ducks were counted in the skear.

The Heysham coast is a real lifeline for these birds in winter, but even here there are dangers. Sometimes it’s a visit from a hungry peregrine falcon, but mostly, it’s passers-by who don’t realise how dangerous it can be for birds to keep using energy to fly away when spooked. Flying away from what they see as a threat (that’s we humans, and dogs) uses a huge amount of energy which they really need to conserve in these lean and freezing months. Please remember to keep your dog on a lead when walking in this area, and to keep your distance from the birds. Please also walk away from the old heliport – this is private property and one of the most important wader roosts in the area.

Middleton Nature Reserve

Ducks were the order of the day at Middleton Nature Reserve in Heysham. It was lovely to see male shovelers in breeding plumage on the No Swimming Pond, accompanied by teal, pochards, wigeon, tufted ducks and 21 gadwall! The reserve is such a peaceful place for a restorative walk at this time of year.

Heysham Nature Reserve

Heysham Nature Reserve might not be as rich in birdsong in winter, but the songbirds are still there, waiting to wow you by sight. Flocks of goldfinches twittered through the trees and rosy pink bullfinches sought out seeds. Mixed tit flocks of blue and long-tailed tits roved noisily across the reserve and one visitor even spotted a chiffchaff. Of course, all of these songbirds are tasty treats for predatory species, and a sparrowhawk was recorded on the hunt.

What have you seen at our nature reserves? We’d love to hear all about your sightings. Click one of the social media buttons below to tell us all about them.