Martin Mere

Tawny owlet

It was a bright, sunny day and I was due a visit to Martin Mere. I set off early and got the train to Burscough Bridge, the idea being to take the direct route to Martin Mere before the sun got too warm, be in the cover of hides for the noonday sun, have a look round the reedbed hides then head back for the train with the sun on my back or as close as I can hope for.

By Red Cat Lane

It was a dead clear sky as I set off down Red Cat Lane for Martin Mere. There were plenty of woodpigeons about though they were mostly hidden in the depths of the fields of barley and potatoes. The small birds were exceptionally coy. Overhead swarms of house martins and swallows hawked for insects, the swallows sweeping down and skimming the tops of the barley. Peacocks and red admirals skittered along the verges, large whites fluttered amongst the potatoes looking for stray relicts of the oilseed rape crop that proceeded them, and speckled woods chased each other about the hedgerows.

Hay bales, Red Cat Lane 

I'd been wondering where all the rooks and jackdaws had got to. They were all in the paddocks by Crabtree Lane with a lot of woodpigeons or else rummaging about in the margins of the newly cut hay meadow by the road. A few house sparrows had been chirping in the hedgerows, a couple of tree sparrows chirped from the telegraph poles by Curlew Lane. For the life of me I couldn't see the yellow wagtails calling from the field of broad beans by Tarlscough Hall Farm. I had no more luck finding the corn buntings I could hear near the corner of Marsh Moss Road.

Heron

It was decidedly warm by the time I arrived at Martin Mere so I immediately headed for the cover of the Discovery Hide, a refreshing breeze flowing through the windows. The mere was by its lights quiet, which is to say that there were a hundred or more lapwings, a couple of dozen greylags, similar of mallards and fewer black-headed gulls. Moorhens and their young fussed about the margins, most having chicks and full-grown juveniles in tow. The only shelduck was a bad-tempered individual that swam round picking fights with mallards. A common sandpiper bobbed about the edge of one of the islands that had until recently been heaving with black-headed gulls. A heron loafing by the hide kept a watch on everything.

The Mere

Lapwings, black-headed gulls and greylags

Lapwings, black-headed gulls and greylags

I was hoping to add green sandpiper to the year list so I bobbed into the Raines Observatory to see if any were on the banks of the mere at this side. Sure enough, there was one in the middle of a group of lapwings loafing and fussing on one of the islands.

Tawny owlet

Walking along towards what used to be called the Kingfisher Hide I bumped into a lady who was sticking a notice in the ground by a tree. "The owlet's up this tree. It had been showing really well on that pine tree over there but it's up in the canopy here." Even with her directions it took me a few minutes to find the tawny owlet sitting up near the top of the tree trunk. Once I had it in my binoculars I found I could see it by eye. Then I took a step to one side to let someone pass and completely lost it again. I have a lousy eye for owls.

From the Kingfisher Hide as was

Chiffchaffs squeaked in the trees and a coal tit, of all things, sang. There wasn't much about at the Kingfisher Hide as was but the landscape looked green and lush. As I walked down the steps from the hide a blackcap sang from an elderberry bush, the first I've heard for a couple of weeks.

From the Ron Barker Hide

The water was low at the Ron Barker Hide which suited a dozen black-tailed godwits feeding in the shallows and a couple of little ringed plovers and some pied wagtails mudlarking at the sides. Coots and mallards bathed in the drain and a few greylags grazed and muttered on the bank. Swallows whizzed by and unidentifiable dragonflies zipped about the vegetation on the banks.

I had another look for the owlet on the way back and apologised to a couple for putting a jinx in their efforts.

Black-headed gulls and lapwings

I don't often bother with lunch but I thought it prudent to get a sausage toastie and a pot of tea before heading over for the reedbed walk. Suitably refreshed I wandered off. I had a quick nosy over the mere from one of the screens. The lapwings and black-headed gulls were being fairly noisy for no apparent reason and a cattle egret flew in and joined the greylags in one of the islands.

Lapwing, greylags and cattle egret

A quick look at the feeders by the Janet Kear Hide found me a lot of juvenile blue tits and a commendably acrobatic rat. I quite like rats in the singular but have the usual human reaction when I see a crowd of them.

The Gladstone Hide and the United Utilities Hide are closed for maintenance and there was hay-cutting in the meadow by the latter.

Reedbed walk 

It was hot out in the open on the reedbed walk and I was glad I hadn't opted to do the long walk in from New Lane. A kestrel hovered over the reeds near the Harrier Hide. Black-headed gulls passed noisily to and fro. Gatekeepers and red admirals fluttered about the path sides and brown hawkers patrolled at nose height, which is disconcerting when they stop dead in front of you and give you the eyeball.

From the Rees Hide 

There were two more green sandpipers at the Rees Hide. I was lucky to spot them as they were standing up looking to see what the lapwings were fussing about, once they sat back down all I could see in the grass was the white of their rumps. The lapwings were fussing about the tractor cutting hay in the field near the pool. Every time it got to this side of the field they took off in a panic.

From the Gordon Taylor Hide

Lapwings and black-headed gull

There was a better view of the lapwings from the Gordon Taylor Hide. In amongst them were half a dozen ruffs including one with a bright white head. Teal, gadwalls and mallards drifted about, greylags and Canada geese loafed on the far banks and dabchicks had a wash and brush-up in the shade of some willow bushes. A cattle egret flew in, did a circle of the pool and joined two others I hadn't noticed in the long grass with the geese. There were a lot of dragonflies zipping around. A few came close enough to be identifiable as broad-bodied chasers but I'm not convinced they all were.

Ruffs and lapwings

Black-headed gulls and teal

Lapwings and black-headed gulls

Lapwings

One of the times the lapwings had a panic about the tractor they also brought up a very young-looking common tern which screeched its way over to the pools by the Harrier Hide.

Lapwings

Ruffs and lapwings

Black-headed gulls and lapwings

I wandered back, the reedbed walk feeling hot and dusty. It was odd that except for the kestrel I'd seen no raptors. A family of long-tailed tits bounced through the willows by the United Utilities Hide.

Along Red Cat Lane

I walked back down to Burscough Bridge, lingering in the shade of trees whenever the opportunity arose, there was a fair breeze but I only properly felt it in the shade. The house martins and swallows were busy overhead; woodpigeons, rooks, carrion crows and jackdaws in the fields. A couple of pairs of stock doves flew by in close formation. The family of goldfinches by Brandeth Barn were mostly scruffy and downy youngsters. A buzzard soaring over Swallow House Farm was mobbed by martins.

The trains behaved themselves and I walked down to Chepstow Street to get the bus home. I was idly watching the usual crowd of lesser black-backs on the rooftops when I noticed one of them had a lead grey back and wings and rather a lot of black to the tips of its wings. A bonus yellow-legged gull for the day.