Etherow Country Park

Mandarin ducks 

The good news is that I was awake to a bright new dawn after the overnight torrents with plenty of time for the day's planned adventure. The bad news was that I'd had something less than two hours' sleep so I catnapped most of the morning. Then I made the mistake of sitting down for an early dinner and the cat took her turn for a nap. So I was rather a lot later than planned for my Plan C wander round Etherow Country Park to take pictures of mandarin ducks.

Mandarin ducks 

Mandarin duck

The mallards are nearly all paired up now, most of the mandarins looked to be paired up but there seemed to be an overabundance of drakes (unless some of the ducks are already nesting somewhere). The coots were keeping a very low profile and there was no sign of any of the mute swans.

American mink

A mink scavenging on a dead Canada goose on the canal was an unwelcome surprise.

River Etherow

For all the rain we've been having the river was a lot lower than I expected thought it was still full and frisky. 

Grey wagtail 

I had rational hopes of grey wagtail and dipper this afternoon, in the end the only bird on the river was a grey wagtail feeding at the base of the weir.

Chaffinch

The sunset chorus in Keg Wood included robins, great tits, coal tits, blackbirds, nuthatches, wrens and a song thrush. Blue tits chased each other round the treetops and woodpigeons canoodled in the ivies. Chaffinches, goldfinches and siskins quietly got about their business.

Keg Wood 

Although it was getting on I thought I should do a decent portion of the circuit in Keg Wood, there's a danger I might scare myself off it. My knees really don't like a couple of the steep inclines on the roller coaster ride but it's a very picturesque walk and can provide some very productive birdwatching so I need to make sure to make the effort. And it's always reassuring that the inclines are more forgiving on the way back.

Keg Wood 

Etherow Country Park 

On the way back to the car park a heron and a buzzard came flying in low to roost in Keg Wood and fifty-odd jackdaws headed for the roost behind the church.

Treecreeper 

There seems to be a strict rule that God invented saying that treecreepers will come and feed on trunks within touching distance only when the light is so bad motion blur becomes inevitable with the shutter speed the camera needs to use.

Etherow Country Park 

Etherow Country Park 

"Nice weather for ducks", I said, "Nice weather for ducks." "Bog off you silly devil," said the ducks.

Ring-necked duck

It was threatening to be a nasty rainy day so I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and headed for Leighton Moss. If the worst came to the worst I could nip in, have a look out from Lilian's Hide and scuttle off again. Which is exactly what I did.

The murky drizzle we had when I left Manchester became biblical rain as we crossed the Lancaster Canal. It had eased a little on the approach to Silverdale so I didn't take fright and stay on the train. The coastal pools were very quiet: two greylags, two great black-backs and one black-headed gull. There a couple of dozen more greylags on the fields between the pools and the station.

Robin

Dunnock

One big advantage to the rain was that I had the Hideout to myself. A crowd of titmice — blue, great, coal and a marsh tit — were at the feeders with chaffinches, robins and dunnocks while mallards and moorhens tidied up anything that fell to the floor. I'm still fighting the camera settings as much as using them so although the marsh tit generously struck a picturesque pose on a branch by the time I got it in focus it had lost patience with me and got something to eat.

Moorhen

Walking down into the reedbeds towards Lilian's Hide I could hear a bittern booming in the distance. Then I heard an answering boom from further away which provoked a bit more booming from the first bird.

From Lilian's Hide

Lilian's Hide was a little busier but there was plenty of space for all comers including me. The water was very high, there wasn't a lot of space for any of the birds to loaf on. The little island remaining by the hide was dominated by a pair of greylags, a small bunch of tufted ducks clustered at the edge. Black-headed gulls perched on sticks or jostled on the nesting rafts; coots, teal and shovelers dabbled by the hide.

Black-headed gull

Greylags

There were a lot of ducks far out in the gloom. A large raft of pochards cruised the far reed margins while a dozen goldeneyes ducked and dived midwater. I knew the ring-necked duck was still about but I wasn't seeing it anywhere. I was trying too hard: it was sat on the island with the tufties.

Tufted ducks and teal.
The ring-necked duck is second left.

Even from here I could see that the great black-backs have claimed the osprey tower by the Griesdale Hide again this year. A cormorant pushed its luck by perching on the camera gantry.

A couple of female marsh harriers had buzzed the reedbeds a couple of times before settling down out of the rain. A male rose out of the reeds, did a lazy couple of slow figures of eight then ducked back in for shelter. None of the other birds paid any attention, it was obviously not hunting weather.

I didn't reckon my chances of seeing any small finches in the trees on my walk back to the visitor centre. I was dead right: the siskins were low in the brambles by the path feeding on blackberry pips.

Great tit

Robin, great tit and dunnock

I had five minutes to wait for the train to Lancaster or ten minutes for the Carlisle train. I waited for the Carlisle train, I could pick up the Manchester train at Ulverston and get home without waiting fifty minutes at Lancaster Station.

It was a high and angry high tide we crossed at Arnside and the salt marshes of Cumbria were awash. Curlews, shelducks and carrion crows watched the train go by. The little egrets were all inland, hunched disconsolate in fields or shrimping in ditches. I was surprised to see a red-breasted merganser with the shelducks and egrets on the salt marsh beyond Cark. As we crossed the Leven a raft of a couple of dozen wigeon bobbed in the water by the viaduct. They'd floated upstream by the time we came back.

It had been a wet and murky old day but I'd still managed to see fifty-odd species of birds.

From Lilian's Hide 

Martin Mere

The Mere

A bright, sunny morning had me heading off to New Lane for the long walk round to Martin Mere.

Walking beside the line from New Lane station I was hearing more than I was seeing. House sparrows and robins in the hedgerows, starlings, pied wagtails and linnets in the fields. There were dozens rather than hundreds of black-headed gulls on the water treatment works with the dozens of starlings and pied wagtails, probably a sign of turning seasons. The carrots were just sprouting in one of the fields I passed, I could see a few pied wagtails about but it was only when a passing train sounded its horn that I could see any of the linnets. About fifty of them rose then disappeared again, taking advantage of furrows that were barely three inches high. If I was struggling in open ground I didn't have much hopes of seeing much in the fennel field. I was lucky again: the Wigan-bound train sounded its horn at the crossing and about a hundred linnets and a few dozen stock doves took to the trees to let it go past. The chaffinches and greenfinches didn't bother and just chirped their defiance from the depths.

Whooper swans

As a crossed the line the first whooper swans of the day flew by and a marsh harrier drifted towards the farm. The field was very quiet, I'd almost given up on the pair of stonechats until they bobbed up just at the last minute. I checked out the cattle grazing the next field along, last time they were festooned with cattle egrets but I saw none today. Can't be lucky all the time.

Stonechat

Looking towards Winter Hill

Looking towards Windmill Farm

The walk around the outside of Martin Mere's reedbeds was predictably damp but not awful. The hedgerows were surprisingly quiet, goldfinches outsinging the robins and just a few blue tits and great tits about. I wandered over to the perimeter fence of the sewage works to see what was about and was immediately rewarded by a Siberian chiffchaff on the fence by the drain, cold coffee brown above and white below and a touch of sulphur on the flanks. This gave me the chance to get another "there was a warbler there a moment ago" photo though there's no art in it now I'm a lot slower with this camera. There were three or four chiffchaffs in the hawthorns at the head of the drain together with a few blue tits and long-tailed tits. The chiffchaffs had been crowded out from the perimeter fence by a flock of reed buntings.

Reed bunting

It felt like a long walk from the sewage works to the road. I was rewarded by a large mixed finch flock in the alders planted along the fence to the reserve. All the noise was goldfinch but most of the bodies were siskins.

Whooper swans, black-headed gulls, pintails and shelducks

Sitting down at the Discovery Hide the mere was very busy as the wildfowl got ready for the free feed later in the afternoon. 

Whooper swan

Black-headed gulls

Black-tailed godwit

Black-tailed godwit

Greylag

Whooper swans cruised about and shouted over the greylags loafing on the banks, there were plenty of wigeon, mallards and shelducks, pochards dived by the hide and for some reason most of the pintails congregated over by one of the islands. A dozen black-tailed godwits twittered from the island by the hide, a couple of them flew over and started feeding just in front. There was a handful of pink-footed geese on the far bank together with half a dozen cormorants and a few lapwings and oystercatchers. It's late February and the black-headed gulls were already settling territorial claims on some of the rafts.

The snowdrops had gone over

I had a quick shufti from the Hale Hide where teal and shelducks were having a wash and brush-up. Suddenly there was a cloud of waders and black-headed gulls over the mere. For the life of me I couldn't find the cause but I did find a couple of ruffs I'd missed when I was looking round.

From the Kingfisher Hide 

I was watching the chaffinches, goldfinches and reed buntings feeding by the Kingfisher Hide when it dawned on me to wonder when I last saw a tree sparrow at Martin Mere. I've looked it up, it was the beginning of March last year.

Chaffinch

The pools at the Ron Barker Hide were busy with teal and shovelers. A dozen Canada geese loafed by the banks, a couple of whoopers sat on the far bank and half a dozen greylags flew by. A marsh harrier flew low over the far reedbeds. Even further out a buzzard was harassed by jackdaws over the woods. Looking the other way, back towards New Lane, I could see more of the herd of cattle and there, riding shotgun on a blue and white cow, a cattle egret with its butter yellow bill catching the sun.

I'd been wandering about for the best part of four hours so I treated myself to a pot of tea and set off for Burscough Bridge for the train home. It was a relatively quiet walk, handfuls of woodpigeons, starlings and spadgers most of the way down. A couple of whooper swans grazed a field on Curlew Lane, small skeins of pink-footed geese flew overhead, a flock of lapwings foraged on a stubble field beyond.

Tarlescough Road

As I passed the junction with Crabtree Road I scanned over the apparently empty field on my side of the road and found a couple of hundred woodpigeons and fifty or more fieldfares rummaging round the far margin at the base of the hedgerow.

Rookery, Burscough Brtdge

Jackdaws, Burscough Brtdge

I didn't have long to wait for the train home weary after a long day's wander. I dozed off almost immediately after I had my tea until the cat woke me up and sent me to bed for snoring.

Red Cat Lane 

Southport

Pink-footed geese, Crossens Marsh

It was a bright, cold and frosty morning and I had no excuse for not going over to Southport for a stroll by Marshside and Crossens Marsh. Even the train connections were made easier by weekend engineering work at Bolton. So off I went.

A robin came over to see why we were waiting at the signals near Westwood Cemetery

I noticed there's just the one magpies' nest at Trafford Park Station now, all the trial runs having been either robbed out or blown out of the trees by gales. The diverted journey got to Wigan via the line through Glazebury and Golborne. As we passed through Astley Moss the trees were still full of woodpigeons and a buzzard was setting out for its breakfast. We sat at the signals at Golborne Dale next to three pheasants sitting in a tree not sure if the train was a threat or not (inertia won in the end). There were more pheasants and woodpigeons as we passed by Viridor Wood. 

Leaving Wigan the lake in Pemberton Park was awash and as still as a mill pool, which seemed to suit the raft of tufted ducks and coots mooching around on it. The huge flock of black-headed gulls on the flooded fields outside Parbold included a few dozen lapwings. And for all that the land drains of West Lancashire were full to the brim there weren't many ducks about, only a few pairs of mallards.

Black-tailed godwits and teal, Marshside
Nel's Hide in the background

I got the 44 to Marshside Road and walked down to the reserve. I met an embarrassment of riches: on the left-hand side of the road the field was flooded and awash with ducks and a couple of hundred black-tailed godwits, on the right the field was drier and hosted ducks, geese and woodpigeons. There were hundreds of wigeons together with perhaps a hundred teal and dozens of shovelers, pintails and mallard. Linnets and pied wagtails skittered about the roadside on the left, house sparrows and starlings on the right. A few greylag geese grazed near the road, a few dozen Canada geese loafed further out. A couple of little egrets rummaged round in the pools and drains. 

Black-tailed godwits, shovelers and wigeon, Marshside

Golden plovers, Marshside

All of a sudden a cloud of a few hundred golden plovers rose from the field near Polly's Pool, flew over the road and headed for the Hesketh Road end of the marsh before dividing into two flocks, one of which flew back whence it came. This unsettled the godwits which rose, flew about for a minute or so, collected a dozen lapwings along the way and settled back down again. The culprit turned out to be a great black-back that was cruising the bund near the pool.

Black-tailed godwits, Marshside

Wigeon, Marshside

Wigeon and shovelers, Marshside

The Junction Pool was effectively the corner of the much larger pool stretching over beyond Nel's Hide. A few shovelers and pintails loafed while pairs of tufted ducks cruised around each other.

Marshside 

I didn't linger long at Sandgrounders. A few teal and wigeon loafed on the island with a couple of dozen Canada geese on the pool by the side with some tufties and gadwall. A great white egret stalked the marsh beyond Polly's Pool. It looked like the first of the black-headed gulls were prospecting nesting sites, as early a sign of Spring as the February daffodils in the hedgerows.

Marshside 

I walked down towards Crossens Marsh. Polly's Pool was busy with lapwings and shelducks, the drains busy with wigeon, teal and tufted ducks. Over on the outer marsh the first family parties of pink-footed geese were grazing in the long grass, little egrets fossicked about in creeks and gullies and a couple of dozen black-headed gulls picked at midges in the pools in the company of a few redshanks. Further out I could see a flock of skylarks flying about, a couple of them rose and sang, but there weren't many meadow pipits about.

Pink-footed geese, Crossens Marsh

Pink-footed geese, Crossens Marsh

The nearer I got to Crossens Marsh the closer the pink-footed geese were to the roadside. I crossed over and scanned round. The nearby geese were mostly family parties, the youngsters less small and brown than they had been on arrival. Far out on the marsh there were hundreds, possibly upwards of a thousand, more and beyond them I could make out a few hundred Canada geese. The unidentifiable masses beyond them were probably all pink-feet.

Mute swans, Crossens Marsh

I was on the look-out for water pipits, they're regular Winter visitors here and there have been two or three of them about this week. I wasn't feeling very confident about it, I'd seen less than a handful of meadow pipits so far and had yet to see any pied wagtails on the outer marshes, whenever I've seen water pipits here they've had company. I needn't have worried: I got to the first of the pull-ins and there amongst the pink-feet and mute swans was a mixed flock of pied wagtails and meadow pipits. As usual it was the wagtails that caught the initial attention, the pipits took some finding even though most were hiding in plain sight. 

There was a lot of variation from dark reddish brown through bright golden browns to almost frosty looking birds but they were all reassuringly streaky with short, pale eyebrows. They were very skittish as well so my efforts at taking any pictures were abysmal. The skittishness worked in my favour, though, as the whole flock of a couple of dozen birds seemed to take their turn out in the open before retreating into the hollows and gullies. It was less than five minutes' wait for a water pipit. I had to look twice and, luckily, it let me. It was a heavily marked bird and if it had kept its head down I might have dismissed it as a rather dark looking mipit. Its head was reassuringly plain grey and the white eyebrow extended behind the eye and looking closely the heavy markings on its chest and flanks were more like the blobs on a song thrush than the streaks on a meadow pipit. I hoped to get a photo of it the next time it hopped out into the open. This is when I learned that while pipit flocks aren't bothered by the noise of heavy traffic they don't like motorbikes that need a new exhaust pipe.

They settled further up the road by the pull-in with the parking space so I walked up. There'd been a report of a water pipit here this morning and a couple of people had telescopes trained on the area. They didn't seem to be having any luck, though, and neither did I: all the pipits I could see were meadow pipits. I decided to move on and not jinx them any further.

Crossens Outer Marsh and Marine Drive

Squinting into the sunlight as I looked over the road a few hundred golden plovers loafed by the edge of the pools while similar numbers of wigeon were scattered across the marsh. Lapwings, teal and mallard were scattered about and I noticed a few dunlins amongst a small flock of black-tailed godwits.

Looking over the River Crossens to Banks

I took the path along the river to Banks Road. Small groups of teal, mallard and wigeon sat on the riverbanks while robins, wrens and great tits sang in the bushes on the other side of the bund. I got to Banks Road and asked myself if I really had the legs to walk down onto the marsh and round and down to Hundred End and in truth I had to admit I hadn't. I checked the bus times and accidentally noticed that the 347 to Chorley was due in ten minutes' time from the stop on Ralph's Wife's Lane. That goes past Mere Sands Wood and through Rufford. I could get off there, have a nosy at the canal and get the 2a to Burscough Bridge for the train home. (If I didn't have the legs for Banks to Hundred End I certainly didn't for a walk through Mere Sands Wood and down Curlew Lane to get to Burscough Bridge.)

It had stayed fine, though cold, all day but it started to drizzle as I waited for the bus so it looked like a good call to have made. We soon passed through the shower and by the time we arrived in Rufford it was bright and sunny. I had a quick stroll around the marina and a look at the canal, as much to get some movement into aching knees as to look at the Canada geese and mallards and listen to the robins, coal tits, goldfinches and greenfinches. Jackdaws billed and cooed on rooftops and woodpigeons cosied up in the trees.

Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Rufford 

There was a reduced service at Burscough Bridge due to the engineering works at Bolton so I had plenty of time to watch the activity in the rookery beside Tesco's. There's a couple of dozen nests on the go, with jackdaws on the look-out for any vacant premises. There didn't seem to be any though I noticed a couple of pairs of jackdaws squabbling over a magpies' nest further down the line.

Mute swans, Crossens Outer Marsh