Martin Mere-ish

Pink-footed geese

Definitely one of those days. I missed a change in the train timetable so spent nearly an hour waiting for a train, had to do the planned walk the wrong way round and on the way home found out I was within a hundred yards of a life tick. Ah well, never mind, it's all part of the game.

The plan was to get the train to New Lane, walk around the periphery of Martin Mere on the public paths then on to Burscough Bridge and home. Up to a couple of weeks ago if I wanted to get to New Lane I could get to Oxford Road and either wait half an hour for the stopping train to Southport or else get the quick train to Wigan and pick the train up there (35 minutes at Wigan is more pleasant than 30 minutes at Oxford Road). That's changed now: the stopping train goes from Victoria and all the connections from Deansgate or Oxford Road just miss it. So I had a fifty minute wait for the train to Burscough Bridge. Which broke down at Oxford Road and left quarter of an hour late. To be honest, had I worked out beforehand it would take an hour and forty minutes to get to Wigan from home I'd have got the bus and had quarter of an hour to spare. Anyway… by the time I arrived in Burscough the morning fog had lifted and it was becoming a fine, warm afternoon.

Red Cat Lane, Burscough

Walking down Red Cat Lane it came as a relief to find fifty-odd rooks dividing their time between the stubble fields, a half-harvested field of carrots and the paddocks by the stables. They were joined by similar numbers of jackdaws and woodpigeons. A few starlings had flown over and I thought the flock of black dots rising and falling a couple of fields away were more of the same until they came my way: at least a hundred and fifty skylarks, the biggest flock I've seen in ages. A single pink-footed goose flew over and I spent a while making sure of its identity, bearing in mind the adage that any single bird that should be in a flock could be something different. As I approached the junction to Curlew Road a couple of skeins flew out from Martin Mere.

At the corner of Curlew Lane a wagtail flew over and just as I was a out to tick it as another pied wagtail from the farmyard I realised it was the wrong shape; it turned out to be a very spruce male yellow wagtail, the latest I've ever seen by a couple of weeks.

One of the hedges along by Hawthorn Lane had some tree sparrows but they weren't up for being easy to find. It was only when a couple were accidentally flushed by a particularly clumsy woodpigeon that they came into sight. No corn buntings today, which was disappointing, and not many linnets or goldfinches, they were probably all in the big field of barley stubble over by the railway line.

Martin Mere's open now but are only admitting people who've booked ahead, which is entirely reasonable in the current circumstances. There's no point in my making a booking as between the trains and the walk down I can't be sure of a time of arrival so it saves stress all round of I don't try. Instead I walk up the side of Martin Mere, along the outer margin of the reedbeds and then take the path beside the railway line to New Lane, which is a nice enough walk and there's enough to see to be worthwhile birdwatching.

Reedbed walk

As I arrived at the reedbed path a Cetti's warbler was singing by the gate and a reed bunting was calling by the pool. The first mixed tit flock of the day was joined by some chaffinches and a bullfinch. Given it's late September and how cold it was yesterday there were a lot of butterflies and dragonflies about. Most of the butterflies were large whites and speckled woods, with a few small tortoiseshells still finding thistles to feed on. A few migrant hawkers patrolled the tops of the reedbeds, the paths and hedgerows were buzzing with darters, mostly ruddy darters with a few black darters close to the pools and a couple of common darters sunning themselves on gateposts.

Pink-footed geese

For all that I knew I was near water the only wildfowl I could see or hear most of the way were the hundreds of pink-footed geese that were either feeding out of sight in the fields behind the reeds or flying overhead to forage on the farmlands. It was only when the path reached the end of the reedbed that I could finally see a couple of the pools. A hundred or so lapwings milled around the edges and I could see at least a couple of dozen teal on the water.

As I approached the railway line a pair of buzzards rose from the field and soared off towards the West. The crows and starlings that were feeding in the field carried on as if I wasn't there.

Black-headed gulls, New Lane water treatment works

The walk down to New Lane Station was pretty quiet until I got to the water treatment works where sixty-odd black-headed gulls were loafing on the roof one of the sheds.

On the way home I found out that a Wilson's phalarope had been spotted at Martin Mere at the same time as I was walking round it. A lifer for me. Ah well. I'd have probably have just missed it anyway.