Habitat type: Wetland meadow and pool
Size of reserve: 10 hectares / 25 acres
OS map number: 111
Grid reference: SX 206 076 (viewpoint from the road)
Best time to visit: Autumn to spring
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Directions
From Bude, take the road to Crooklets. Turn right opposite Crooklets Beach car park and then first left towards Maer. The reserve is on the right, a few hundred yards along this road.
Access
There is no access on to the reserve, but it may be viewed from the road. Visitors with cars should park in Crooklets Beach car park and not on the road adjacent to the reserve.
Characteristic wildlife of this reserve
The snipe has one of the longest bills in relation to its overall size of any bird. It uses it to probe soft mud with erratic jerky movements. Snipe are cryptically marked and usually keep well hidden until they are flushed, when they rise explosively, uttering their distinctive hoarse calls.
Teal is our smallest duck, which winters here. The drakes display a bright chestnut head banded with deep green, a horizontal white line along the grey body and a yellow triangle under the tail.
In the autumn, the reserve is often home to North American birds that have been blown across the Atlantic.
Small numbers of widgeon breed in Britain, but this bird is most common as a winter visitor. In early spring, communal courtships may be seen. Drakes, with their necks stiff, flap their wings to show their white wing patches and crowd around a duck. This is often a precursor to acrobatic flights. The male has a grey body, black and white posterior and a chestnut head with yellowish fringe. The female is plainer but both share the short bill, steep forehead and pointed tail.
Other information
The pool was first recorded in 1284 as "la Mere" (mere is an old English word for pool). A sluice has been installed to help control water levels.
Owned jointly with the Cornwall Birdwatching and Preservation Society, the pool was purchased in 1992 with a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust.
