Christmas Special Fieldtrip to Rostherne Mere

We are having an extra fieldtrip on Sunday 15 December to Rostherne Mere in Cheshire.  Please note that we are meeting at the usual place (Doctors Nook car park facing the Library in Leigh) at 9:00am which is a little later than usual.  Car sharing will organised on the day and you can click here for a map and more details.

Rostherne is the largest of the Cheshire meres and also the deepest, with the original basin having been deepened by salt subsidence. Being exceptionally deep for a natural lowland lake, the Mere's water rarely freezes over and in hard winters can support large numbers of wintering wildfowl. The main habitats are open water and woodland.

Rostherne Mere is primarily of importance for its wintering wildfowl populations, particularly pochard. Mallard, teal, pintail and shoveler are also regular visitors and in cold weather ruddy duck, gadwall and goosander often visit the site. The surrounding reed beds support a large breeding population of reed warblers and bittern is a regular visitor during the winter months. Birds of the surrounding woods include all three native woodpecker species together with tawny owl, sparrowhawk and kestrel. Scrub areas are home to reed bunting, willow warblers and whitethroat.

Everyone is welcome, both existing members and prospective new members, for what should be a very interesting trip with the possibility of seeing a Bittern which has recently been seen here.

Al Foy