Martin Mere

Ruff

I had an afternoon wander round Martin Mere. It was a toss-up between that and a trip out to Birkdale Moss to see if the snow goose that's been bobbing round West Lancashire would be making a repeat appearance. As it happens I was on the train to New Lane when I noticed a report that it was back there and I considered it for a bit but decided to stick with the plan. Hopefully it'll still be there tomorrow, I'll make a proper job of a trip out of it rather than going cack-handed.

I got off at New Lane (the leeks are being harvested so the station smelled wonderfully of Winter soup) and walked down Marsh Moss Road for a change, it's been a long time since I last did. There were plenty of woodpigeons about and one passing flock flushed a buzzard out of its tree, a nice turnabout of the usual dynamic. The first of many skeins of pink-footed geese passed overhead as I got to the bend in the road. 

Marsh Moss Road

I had a look over the fields (accompanied by a small dog guarding a Leylandii hedge). There were a few carrion crows, magpies and jackdaws fossicking about. A couple of fields away there was a single goose grazing. Any goose out on its own is worth a second look but this one was definitely a juvenile pink-foot.

Pochard

First port of call at Martin Mere was the Discovery Hide, which turned out to be very busy birdwise. The bank in front of the hide was heaving with mallards, pintails and ruffs. The pintail drakes were still halfway into their moult from eclipse, patchy greys and hints of Winter elegance to come.

Pintail

Out on the mere there were dozens of greylags and black-headed gulls. Herring gulls and lesser black-backs loafed on rafts with drip-drying cormorants. There were a few male pochards (I didn't find any females) and small rafts of tufties and wigeon. There were about a dozen whooper swans and plenty more incoming. The few teal and gadwall that were around took a lot of finding and the one Canada goose was a marked contrast to my last visit. The far bank was pretty much covered in black-headed gulls, lapwings and pink-feet.

Ruff (left) and juvenile sanderling

I had a quick shufti in the Raines Observatory to see if I'd missed anything on the mere. There were a lot more ruff here. There was also one wader that had me scratching my head as it was so very different. Generally speaking any mystery wader in a flock of ruff is a ruff but this wasn't one. For a start it had a white rump and was browner and more scaly than any ruff. A white-rumped peep is nearly always a sanderling but this didn't look right. And it resolutely kept its beak in its back feathers. I took a few pictures but the grubby distorting glass in the Observatory is better for special effects than for ID photography. I lost it when it disappeared into the panicking crowd when one of the reserve staff appeared with a wheelbarrow full of bird seed, none of the waders came back once she'd gone. Looking at the photos back home it occurred to me that if I saw more juvenile sanderlings I wouldn't be so easily puzzled by them.

There's a lot of tittivating being done in preparation for this weekend's bird fair. One consequence is the cutting back of the scrub obscuring the view at the Hale Hide. The only birds on the pool were a couple of greylags, spillover from the flock hanging round the bund behind the fence in the hopes of some spuds.

The tree sparrows at the Kingfisher Hide were heard but not seen. The water levels are nearly back to normal so there was plenty of damp herbage about for a couple of migrant hawkers to patrol.

From the Ron Barker Hide

The water at the Ron Barker Hide was quite high so there wasn't any mud for waders to exploit. The dozens of dabbling shovelers and teal made up the numbers. More greylags and pink-feet flew in and headed for the mere. A flock of jackdaws headed off towards the woods over at Mere Brow. I was surprised to see a coupled pair of migrant hawkers helicoptering over the ditch in front of the hide.

On the way back I stopped for a fruitless look in the ivy-covered trees for a tawny owl, the way you do. More jackdaws and pink-feet overhead. (And the ashy-headed geese and juvenile smews in the duckery are looking very fine even if they can't go on my year list.)

Whooper swans and black-headed gulls

I had a look out from the screens by the mere and tried not to lament the late Swan Link Hide. By now the mere was covered in whoopers and greylags and most of the loafing black-headed gulls had to budge up on the islands.

Greylags

Quarter of an hour in the Janet Kear Hide added greenfinches, pheasants and rats to the visit tally. The small birds were very skittish, I suspect because of the constant rustling and crashing of woodpigeons feasting on hawthorn berries just behind the feeders.

There were no Canada geese at all on the Harrier Hide, which gave the black-headed gulls, mute swans and mallards a lot of breathing space.

I missed out on the little stint reported at the United Utilities Hide. I'll bump into one eventually this year.

Red Cat Lane

The walk over to Burscough Bridge was fairly quiet. A few dozen starlings gathered on telegraph wires and a couple of skeins of pink-feet passed over. The jackdaws and rooks were heading off to roost as I got into town and had five minutes to spare for the train back to Manchester.