Martin Mere

Siberian chiffchaff, Martin Mere

It was a grey Winter's day with a hint of mist in the air, the sort of day for a visit to Martin Mere. The aim was to get the train to New Lane and walk to Martin Mere via the reedbed walk in the hopes of connecting with either the yellow-browed warbler or the Siberian chiffchaff lurking in the trees by the water treatment works. The plans went awry: the way the timetable works now I had a three-quarters of an hour wait somewhere along the way for the stopping train so when I got off at Burscough Bridge I decided to tramp it.

Red Cat Lane 

At first glance the fields along Red Cat Lane were a bit quiet. The woodpigeons, dozens of them, were mostly perching in the trees by the houses, a big flock of rooks and jackdaws was on a ploughed field a couple of fields behind the stables. Half a dozen stock doves flitted between the barns by Crabtree Lane with a few jackdaws. Family groups of pink-footed geese flew overhead towards fields somewhere towards Rufford. There was a lot of distant honking which got louder as a flock of hundreds of geese rose up and flew over towards fields over by New Lane. As I approached Brandeth Barn half a dozen whoopers flew by and off up Curlew Lane.

I got to Martin Mere but instead of heading to the entrance at the visitor centre I followed the public footpath that runs along the margins of the reedbed walk and the water treatment works. The field by Marsh Moss Road was busy with jackdaws, fieldfares and linnets and the trees by the reserve busy with chaffinches, great tits and mistle thrushes. I got a bit of hedgerow practice in with a mixed flock of greenfinches, goldfinches and reed buntings in the alders by the gate.

Martin Mere 

There was nobody around as I walked down the path, which was great because it meant I could relax and let myself hear any bird calls. There were more reed buntings and a few wrens and dunnocks, a Cetti's warbler took exception at my passing by and a mixed tit flock passed through the willows by one of the screens by the reedbeds.

I got to the hedgerow by the water treatment works just as a couple was trying to work out how to get out of the reserve into the outside world. Much to my surprise the gate was unlocked, I showed them the path and the hedge where I've seen Siberian chiffchaffs in the past. They walked down while I checked out the hedgerow by the path, just in case. I found a Siberian chiffchaff in a mixed tit flock moving deep in the trees. It took me a few looks to be sure of what I was seeing and kept getting distracted by long-tailed tits. The clincher came when it popped out into the open: brown above, beige and white below, a strong, pale eyebrow and no green tones in the plumage. I walked further down the path and found the couple in a group by the treatment works fence. They were getting a much better view of the Siberian chiffchaff, it was showing well at the edge of the trees with a crowd of long-tailed tits and goldcrests. And the yellow-browed warbler. 

Siberian chiffchaff, Martin Mere

The  fence seemed to be a magnet for insects and small birds alike and the warbler kept flying over to glean from the wire links. It was great to get prolonged good views and not need to spend any time trying to construct an identikit picture from fleeting glances and eliminating suspects. A really lovely little bird but such a fidget! I quickly gave up any hopes of getting a photo, it was worse than the goldcrests. Half a dozen wrens turned up in the bush behind me with a common chiffchaff in tow and this gave me the chance to compare and contrast with the Siberian chiffchaff in the bushes in front of me. The common chiffchaff's tones were olive browns and buffs rather than milky coffee browns and white and there was a lemon yellow tinge to its relatively short eyebrow. Oddly enough, for all the time we were watching all these birds not one of them called.

Mallards, Martin Mere

I wandered back to the reserve. I knew I didn't have enough gas left in me to comfortably walk back to Burscough Bridge so I checked the trains from New Lane. I only had enough time and energy to spend half an hour checking out the mere from the Discovery Hide. The mallards were out in force, quacking and squeaking amorously at each other. Pairs of pintails and shelduck floated about, half a dozen pochards dozed on one of the islands and a crowd of wigeons grazed on the far bank. There weren't many whooper swans, barely a dozen, and not many more greylags and it took a while to find the pink-feet on the far bank. The mere was littered with black-headed gulls but unusually there wasn't a single large gull about. As usual half a dozen black-tailed godwits twittered about on the bank in front of the hide.

Black-tailed godwir, Martin Mere

Whooper swan, mallards and shelducks, Martin Mere

Pochards, black-headed gulls, mallards and shelduck, Martin Mere

Pintails, Martin Mere

Marsh Moss Road 

I walked to New Lane by Marsh Moss Road accompanied by the chatterings of fieldfares and goldfinches in the roadside trees. The field across the road was empty save for a single buzzard digging for worms by the side of a drain. The field behind the houses at the corner before the station was full of pink-feet, at least five hundred of them. I got a good view of them between the trees and scanned round to see if there was anything else in there. I found a tundra bean goose. Pure dumb luck: it happened to look up when I got to that group of geese and the shape of the bill stood out a mile. A nice end to a very good day's birding.

Tundra bean goose (centre) with pink-footed geese, New Lane