Martin Mere

Cattle egret and carrion crow

I had more luck with yesterday's planned walk today. The trains were busy but punctual so I got to New Lane without any hassle. It was a relentlessly sunny day so I headed straight for Martin Mere via Marsh Moss Lane where there was occasional shade from wayside trees.

Bullace (wild damson)

The trees and bushes along the path from Marsh Moss Lane were busy with invisible birds. A couple of robins sang, great tits and blue tits called as they bounced around in the branches and blackbirds heaved leaves around in the undergrowth. Most of the movement catching my eye was butterflies: there were a lot of large whites about for no apparent reason and speckled woods were kept busy chasing them and any passing meadow browns out of their territories.

Common hawker

The mere was busy, mostly with black-headed gulls, cormorants and lapwings. A few herons lurked on the far shore and coots and moorhens fussed about by the Discovery Hide. The raft of juvenile shelducks and the solitary adult were still about and mallards loafed on the islands. The absence of any waders other than lapwings was striking. There hadn't been any geese about either but that was soon rectified as a couple of dozen greylags flew in noisily and a dozen Canada geese flew in relatively quietly. 

I don't know why this cormorant was so taken with this stick

Black-headed gulls

The gulls were all in post-breeding flocks, a couple of common terns were still feeding full-sized juveniles. High overhead a soaring buzzard got too close to a soaring sparrowhawk which took a few swipes at it before flying off.

Cattle egret and carrion crows

A cattle egret had been reported as being with the Longhorn cattle feeding on the meadow in front of the Gladstone Hide. I've had no luck with cattle egrets this year so I had a wander over to see if I could find it. The grass was as high as a Longhorn cow's eye so I didn't think I'd have much chance of seeing the egret and after a few scans round I hadn't had any joy. Then I glanced over to the fence by the drain. A nice adult cattle egret enjoying the company of a couple of carrion crows.

A wander down to the Ron Barker Hide was a nice walk. Nearly everything that moved was a bee, a butterfly or a dragonfly so it was nice to see a couple of juvenile robins by the wayside. There were lots of mallards and lapwings on the marsh in front of the hide. A few greylags, moorhens and gadwall loafed on the bank of the drain and a pair of whooper swans slept by the far gate. A marsh harrier perched in a distant tree was the only one of the day. Further out a couple of kestrels were hovering over a field looking to catch anything escaping from a combine harvester.

Yellow wagtails, Curlew Lane

I walked to Burscough Bridge for the train accompanied by flocks of swallows and house martins most of the way. The rabbits were out in force again in the donkey's field at Brandeth Barn but there was no sign of the flock of collared doves. At the junction with Curlew Lane a couple of yellow wagtails flew over the field, which was nice as they've seemed very thin on the ground here this year. As they flew left a corn bunting flew right and over towards the paddocks on Crabtree Lane. As I walked past the barn a movement caught my eye, four juvenile yellow wagtails were fussing about on the roof.

The rest of the way down Red Cat Lane was pretty quiet as the barley was being harvested. I got to the station with ten minutes to spare and for once the trains behaved impeccably all the way home.