North West Bird Watching Festival returns to Martin Mere on 17 October 2026

The North West Bird Watching Festival will return to WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October 2026.

The annual event will coincide with the autumn arrival of pink-footed geese at the Lancashire reserve. WWT says visitors may see up to 20,000 geese on the mere, alongside pintail, wigeon, shoveler, gadwall, pochard, black-tailed godwit and shelduck.

The two-day programme will include talks, guided reserve walks, bird ringing demonstrations, photography activities, boat tours and canoe trips. The reserve will open from 8am on both days, with the grounds and visitor centre opening at 9am. Saturday will run until 7pm, while Sunday will finish at 6pm.

Speakers listed for the weekend include WWT ambassador and naturalist Lucy Lapwing, biologist and conservationist Sacha Dench, and wildlife presenter Jack Baddams. Other sessions will cover white-tailed eagle conservation, cuckoo satellite-tagging, wader conservation and winter birding in Japan.

Sony is the festival’s activities sponsor and will run Sony Alpha Wildlife Photo Walks with imaging ambassador Terry Donnelly. He will also give a talk on wildlife photography, including the use of autofocus, pre-capture technology and telephoto lenses.

Exhibitors will include Sony, Fujifilm UK, Wilkinson Cameras, African Photography Safaris, the Grant Arms Hotel, the RSPB and the British Trust for Ornithology.

WWT members receive entry as part of their membership. Non-members can buy admission tickets, while some talks and activities are free and others carry an additional charge. Tickets for talks and activities are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis at the centre.

WWT Martin Mere is on Fish Lane, Burscough. The full programme and ticket information are available through the centre’s website.