Martin Mere

I had planned on going to Martin Mere last Friday but didn't fancy the walk from Burscough Bridge in that weather. Better weather today and I decided I could do with some fresh air to blow away a cold I'd been working on over the weekend so off I went.

Red Cat Lane

Plenty of evidence of the past few days' weather about, it looked like some of the houses on Red Cat Lane had had a lucky escape.

Skeins of pink-footed geese flew overhead to join the hundreds on the fields on the other side of the railway line. Another harbinger of Winter was a stonechat which was working its way along the fence of the field of leeks. No little owl this time, or corn buntings, and just the one stock dove along this stretch.

Stonechat, Red Cat Lane

I hadn't realised how much a flying stonechat looks like an Angry Bird

Half a dozen swallows and a couple of house martins hawking high overhead at the corner with Curlew Lane were a welcome reminder of Summer. A passing common hawker dragonfly might be the last for a while.

The rain had made the pedestrian entrance to Martin Mere impassible

Time was the pedestrian entrance to Martin Mere was really hard going. It's been much improved over the past few years but the weather beat it this time. Ironically, I'd managed to get to the end of the path only to be defeated by the depth of the puddle at that corner of the car park.

Thousands of pink-footed geese had arrived. The call of these geese flying overhead is one of my favourite Winter sounds. The water in the main mere was very high, with most of the margins and islands underwater.

Mallard

Besides the geese the most conspicuous birds were the flocks of lapwings and starlings moving between the fields and the islands in the mere

Lapwing

Lapwing

Lapwing

A few green sandpipers were flying about and thirty or more ruff jostled for position on one of the islands. Three whooper swans were probably individuals that had stayed over Summer.

After just over an hour I decided that enough was enough and that if I had any sense I should go for the next train from New Lane rather than wait another couple of hours. Another nice walk down Marsh Moss Lane to the station with plenty of time for the train.

Marsh Moss Lane