Martin Mere

Cattle egret, Martin Mere

Whiffs of Autumn are in the air despite the sudden upturn in the weather. I think we've had the last of our local swifts, every evening sees a passage of lesser black-backs and the dozen black-headed gulls loafing on the school playing field this morning is pretty typical of the week.

I didn't get round to Martin Mere last month so I headed that way today, thinking I could wander in the long way from New Lane and see what was lurking around the reedbeds. The train out was a nightmare and it was an almighty relief to finally get off at New Lane. The rest of the day was pretty good.

I walked along the path beside the railway line and was struck by how quiet everything was. The birdlife was a couple of passing house martins, a swallow, a wren in the hedgerow by the path and a reed bunting, a couple of goldfinches and a chiffchaff in the bushes by the water treatment works on the other side of the line. Meadow browns and large whites fluttered by the path and a Southern hawker patrolled the hawthorn hedge.

A field of fennel

Things picked up a little once I reached the field of fennel which was in full bloom. Woodpigeons flew between copses in twos and threes and a few black-headed gulls headed over for Martin Mere. Brown hawkers and common darters hawked flow over the flowerheads while linnets and a yellow wagtail fossicked around among the stems. I startled a sedge warbler as I passed by and it shot from the drain into the depths of the fennel. 

Brimstone, Martin Mere

Kestrel, Martin Mere

I crossed the line and took the path around the field. Brimstones, peacocks and wall browns fed on the fading thistle flowers. A kestrel hovered overhead, a couple of herring gulls drifted by and goldfinches, greenfinches and linnets twittered by. The pair of stonechats that call the fallen-down shed their home chided me on my way.

Stonechat, Martin Mere

Migrant hawker, Martin Mere

The first thing that struck me as I joined the path that goes round the outside of Martin Mere was the profusion of dragonflies and butterflies. A dozen brown hawkers zipped around the drain by the gate while migrant hawkers and common darters patrolled the hedgerow. The hedgerows and the meadow path were littered with brimstones, speckled woods, gatekeepers and wall browns. There were very few birds, most of which were wrens and robins but most of the noise was coming from willow warblers and chiffchaffs, giving myself the chance to confirm that their alarm calls are slightly different and that I still only have a 50:50 chance of identifying them correctly.

Montbretia, Martin Mere
I know it's an invasive exotic, it's still a lovely flower

Sloes, Martin Mere

It was a nice walk, this time of year the path is shaded, even at midday. As the hedgerows gave way to open reeds there were more brown hawkers and a few black darters and I could hear but not see the moorhens, coots and greylags on the pools hidden within the reedbeds.

Lapwings and mallard, Martin Mere

I went into Martin Mere and headed straight for the Discovery Hide. I was expecting it to be busy as there's been a pectoral sandpiper on the mere this past few days, as it was there was just the regulars. There were lots of birds about on the mere but it was what was missing that was most obvious. There were perhaps a dozen black-headed gulls about, maybe a couple of dozen mallards including a family of tiny ducklings, and just the one, juvenile, shelduck. I couldn't see any oystercatchers or avocets. 

There were a couple of hundred lapwings and every so often they'd be joined by incoming from the fields or they'd get spooked by a passing aeroplane or microlight and rise up in a panic. Over on the other side three ruffs were wading chest deep in the water feeding on emerging midges. As they approached an island it looked like a fourth had appeared but it looked too small and didn't have a bumped back and of course was the pectoral sandpiper and I was busy being too thick to realise what I was seeing. Just as the penny dropped a family of little ringed plovers flew across my line of view and landed on the far bank. I looked back at where the pectoral sandpiper had been and it had disappeared with the ruffs behind some vegetation. I didn't find it again. After seeing my first green sandpiper of the year yesterday it was nice to see a pair of them flitting round the mere today.  Floating over the fields very far out in the distance was my only marsh harrier of the day.

Goldcrest, Martin Mere

The alders and birches by the car park were noisy with goldfinches. I thought I'd best check to make sure they really were all goldfinches (they were) and in the process found a juvenile goldcrest flitting about in one of the pine trees by the path. There was no sign of any tree sparrows anywhere along the way to the Kingfisher Hide and only goldfinches and great tits on the feeder there.

Cattle egrets, Martin Mere

The cattle were grazing close to the Ron Barker Hide and three cattle egrets were in close attendance though mostly hidden in the tall grass. A fourth was dozing by a rather magnificent grey longhorn over in the distance. About fifty greylags and a bit fewer Canada geese grazed on the marsh.

From the Ron Barker Hide 

A hundred or so ducks were silhouetted on the pools, mostly mallard and teal with a handful of shovelers, in the company of more lapwings and just the one black-tailed godwit. Something panicked the lapwings over on the reedbeds and a couple of small flocks came over this way with a few starlings and a couple of ringed plovers in tow. A buzzard flew over and passed closely to one of the flocks which just carried on without paying much notice. I suspect it would have been different had it been a harrier. Meanwhile  half a dozen tufted ducks dozed in the big drain between the marshes and a pair of whooper swans dozed in the tall grass at the other end.

Cattle egret, Martin Mere

The cattle egrets treated us to a close flypast which was much appreciated.

Cuckoo pint, Martin Mere

I wandered back to the visitor centre and got myself a pot of tea before wandering off to get the train at Burscough Bridge. There were plenty of woodpigeons and goldfinches in the cereal fields along the road. At the junction with Curlew Lane about fifty swallows twittered from the telegraph lines and a dozen or more house martins flitted about. There was just the one yellow wagtail to be seen, flitting over the farmhouse, and my only tree sparrow of the day poked its head out of the hedge by the road, the house sparrows were more accommodating.

Tarlscough Lane 

The fields further down had been ploughed and dozens of woodpigeons and rooks joined the hundred or more jackdaws picking the spoils. A couple of pairs of stock doves were on the field margins away from the road. A couple of corn buntings flew overhead making a squeaky version of their call I don't remember hearing before.

I got the train home from Burscough Bridge and had a much more comfortable ride back than the one out.