Martin Mere-ish

Greylag geese, Martin Mere

That partially leucistic woodpigeon looks more peculiar every time I see it. It came to feed in the garden this morning so I got a close look at it. It has very dark eyes, more like a stock dove's than the glassy orange eye of a woodpigeon.

Seeing as how it was going to be a nice day I decided to have a walk around the outside of Martin Mere, which was likely to be less busy than the other options on a sunny Saturday. The train got a bit busy at Wigan, but not worryingly so and it was only fifteen minutes out to New Lane.

By New Lane Station

From the station I walked down the path alongside the railway to the crossing. Most of the fields had been tilled a few weeks ago and were pretty bare save a couple of goldfinches. The only swallow of the day flew overhead as I passed the water treatment works; judging by the clouds of (non-biting, mercifully!) midges I walked through over the next few hours they won't be short of food when they arrive. It also occurred to me that this year I've seen more oystercatchers in sewage farms than I have at the seaside.

The only pink-footed geese I saw all day were two that flew westwards a mile or two over the fields. There were plenty of greylags about, increasing numbers the nearer I got to Martin Mere. I got my hopes up that I was seeing my first whooper swans of the year as two huge white shapes flew in from the distance, then they veered round so I could get a sideways look at a pair of mute swans.

All along the path I had been seeing and hearing a lot of chiffchaffs and the very occasional blackcap. As I joined the path that runs along the boundary of Martin Mere, roughly parallel with the reedbed walk, I heard more willow warblers. 

Martin Mere

The first pool I could see, from a distance, was littered with shelducks, shovelers and lapwings and there were more lapwings in the field being grazed by cattle. Further out I could see a female marsh harrier floating over the reedbeds on the other side of the reserve. Further along the path a second marsh harrier floated in and flushed a flock of avocets I from another pool. The third marsh harrier I saw was a male as he sky-danced, appropriately enough over by the Harrier Hide. He settled in the reeds for a minute or two and as I tried to see where he'd gone I became aware of a tetchy call in the reeds in front of me, a Cetti's warbler taking offence at my getting in his light. I took one step back and he started singing. Funny buggers, Cetti's warblers.

Female marsh harrier, Martin Mere

Male marsh harrier, Martin Mere

The marsh harrier rose and started sky-dancing again, rising higher in the air as he circled, dipped and soared. He was joined by a female and they circled and soared together for a good five minutes. At one point a buzzard joined in, taking the opportunity to harass them as he passed. I'm not sure of the pecking order between buzzards and harriers, I suspect it may be as desultory and inconclusive as this encounter.

Buzzard (second right) harassing marsh harriers, Martin Mere

Near one of the viewing screens I spent a couple of minutes trying and failing to see the water rail that was walking through the reeds a couple of feet away. Aside from its grunts and squeals and the movement of reeds as it slid by them I wouldn't have known it was there. I had a little more luck with a fleeting glance of a second Cetti's warbler. I'd almost got to the gate leading out of the reedbed area when I caught my first reed warbler of the year singing in the corner of the pond.

Up till then the only ducks I'd seen had been shelducks, shovelers and mallards, which is a bit unusual for a visit here, so it came as a relief to find a pair of gadwall in the ditch by the gate.

I walked down Tarlscough Road and Red Cat Lane hoping to see corn buntings, tree sparrows and possibly the odd yellow wagtail but with no luck. On the plus side there were three pairs of stock doves doing their close formation synchronised display flights, the individuals in each pair rarely flying more than a couple of feet apart as they wheeled round.

There were at least eleven occupied nests in the rookery at Burscough Bridge Station. The rooks were noisily busy making little baby rooks.

Rookery nookery, Burscough Bridge Station