Martin Mere

Juvenile lapwings

The other day I'd vowed that if I was going to Martin Mere this week it would be by bus so it was rather against my better judgement that I found myself getting the train from Oxford Road to Burscough Bridge. And I got there without incident. It was a bright, sunny day with a nice breeze that kept everything fresh and excellent walking weather.

By Red Cat Lane 

The rooks and jackdaws of Red Cat Lane made a racket while the woodpigeons, which easily outnumbered them two to one, quietly got on with rummaging about in the fields. As did a family of carrion crows. At the corner of Crabtree Lane a family of tree sparrows chirruped at each other from the telephone lines. I'd been worrying about them, it's a relief to see they're still about and in numbers. The clear blue sky had been conspicuously free of hirundines, there was a swarm of swallows and house martins over the farmyard on the corner of Curlew Lane. As I walked past a pair of ravens cronked high overhead.

It was my bad timing that had me walking down Fish Lane to the entrance of Martin Mere just as the tractor was turning over the hay by the roadside. The job has to be done and it's just my bad luck. My sneezing gave the rooks something to watch while they waited to dive in to see what was for dinner.

It's been an exciting time this week at Martin Mere with ospreys, bitterns, a pectoral sandpiper and a white-winged tern being seen on the reserve. I didn't see any of them but still had an excellent few hours' birdwatching.

Lapwings

Moorhen

Greylags

Cormorants, cattle egret, Canada geese and lapwings

Looking out on the mere from the Discovery Hide the most striking thing was the moult flocks of greylags and Canada geese. There was easily a hundred of each. And a couple of hundred lapwings at least. The black-headed gulls and starlings were in scores, the teal, mallard and black-tailed godwits in dozens. For once it looked like the moorhens outnumbered the coots. A tiny mallard ducklings nipped for midges at the water's edge. The white figures lined up with the loafing cormorants on the far bank were a couple of cattle egrets and there were more with the cattle in the field beyond. The lapwings and starlings were panicked by a buzzard that left its fencepost and flew across the mere.

Mallard duckling

Green sandpiper

My target birds for today were ruff and green sandpiper so I had a look in at the Raines Observatory and found a green sandpiper running along the bank in front of the windows and my first noisy party of birdwatchers of the day.

Walking to the Kingfisher Hide as was

Chiffchaffs squeaked, great tits muttered and robins sang as I walked down to the Kingfisher Hide as was. It was very quiet out there so I enjoyed the scenery. 

Barberries 

From the Ron Barker Hide

The Ron Barker Hide was busy with black-headed gulls, teal, greylags and Canada geese. A couple of pink-footed geese mingled with the Canada geese.

Greylags

I walked back, checking every ivy-clad tree for roosting owls and tiptoeing round a gang of mallards that weren't for shifting off the path.

Black-headed gulls

Moorhen and black-headed gulls

Lesser black-back

Lapwings and black-headed gulls

I had another look at the mere from the screens where the Swan Link Hide has been, finding plenty to see without adding to the day's tally.

A family of long-tailed tits bounced about in the elderberries by the path to the Janet Kear Hide where greenfinches, chaffinches and goldfinches vied for the feeders.

The Reedbed Walk 

Ruddy darter

The contrast between the shades paths of the old reserve and the wide open spaces of the reedbed walk was striking. As was the abundance of dragonflies, mostly common darters with strong support from Southern hawkers and brown hawkers and cameos by migrant hawkers and ruddy darters. Having so many dragons and no damsels is a late Summer sort of thing.

From the Rees Hide 

Black-headed gulls, lapwings and black-tailed godwits

Black-tailed godwits and black-headed gulls

The Rees Hide was busy with people and very busy with Canada geese, greylags, godwits and lapwings. As was the Gordon Taylor Hide with a supporting cast of teal, shovelers, little ringed plovers, a ruff, a green sandpiper and a snipe. Black-headed gulls wheeled about noisily overhead with swarms of swallows and house martins. On the way out a whitethroat churred at me from the drain.

Male stonechat

Female stonechat

For a change I went for the long walk to the Tomlinson Hide, passing more dragonflies and a pair of stonechats. It was lovely and quiet in the hide even when I was joined by another couple of birders. A dozen pink-feet hid in plain sight amongst the hundreds of Canada geese and scores of greylags. A flock of a dozen black-tailed godwits fed busily in the shallows. Southern hawkers and common darters zipped about the reeds in front of the hide and a brute of an emperor dragonfly flew directly across the water.

From the Tomlinson Hide 

Black-tailed godwits

Black-tailed godwit and Canada geese

Suddenly there was a burst of panic and hundreds of lapwings and scores of godwits took to the wing and all the black-headed gulls landed on the water. The waders reeled round and I tried to find the culprit. Eventually the clouds parted and I could see the peregrine powering past as the flocks closed and wheeled behind it. These are always opportunities for finding the waders you couldn't see on the ground, I was half-hoping yesterday's pectoral sandpiper might be in there somewhere. There were a green sandpiper and a couple of ruffs. And there, in amongst a crowd of lapwings, a neat, slim wader with a clean line between a finely-streaked breast and a bright white belly. For a moment I got giddy then realised it was "only" a wood sandpiper, a damned good find any time.

Horse mint

I checked the train times from New Lane as I took the long walk round the reedbed walk. Theoretically I could have climbed the gate onto the external path and caught the next train. I actually considered it before remembering that the joints aren't as supple as they could be and I'd be daft enough to sprain an ankle on the other side. Batman or Captain America would have made it an easy vault and they're both older than me so I've no excuse.

The Reedbed Walk

It was a quiet walk back through the reedbeds. I had a reminder of just how big brown hawkers are when a couple flew up to me, gave me the eyeball then chased each other round my head.

By Marsh Moss Road 

I walked to New Lane Station along a terrifyingly busy Marsh Moss Road. I've never seen it that busy before, I was having to stand on the drain side to let a dozen cars go by at a time. I've not walked it at kicking-out time before, next time I'll give myself the extra half hour for the meandering route via the reedbeds. 

I had five minutes' anxiety as the train home stopped just outside Ince Station but we were soon back on track and aside from an odd bit of business where we were all thrown off the 256 bus at White City because it was running 40 minutes late I got home without incident.

Hollingworth Lake

Buzzard, Shaw Moss
Either heavily into moult or has thrown four moth-eaten cardigans on in a rush.

I've found  this August to be hard going. it's not just that it's a quiet time for birdwatching, or the weather's made it even quieter than usual this time of year, or the hay fever, or the trains, there are days when I just can't be bothered. And today was one of them. I was fully committed to wasting a sunny day listening to the cricket but I couldn't be bothered listening to the cricket. So I dragged myself out of the house and went for a walk around Hollingworth Lake.

As the train approached Rochdale the sunny day had been replaced by the ominous clouds that seemed to have been a feature of the couple of decades I spent working there. By the time we got to Smithybridge where I got off there were big slabs of blue sky poking through the cloud. For some reason this was my first visit of the year. I'm not consciously put off by the ten minutes you have to wait trying to cross Milnrow Road.

Hollingworth Lake 

Hollingworth Lake was heaving busy with every permutation of old folk, children and dogs you could imagine. A crowd of Canada geese, mallards, mute swans and black-headed gulls were mugging for food on the slipway by the sailing club. I decided to go the other way and have an anticlockwise walk round the lake.

Dunnock, Hollingworth Lake 

It's a nice walk but it was too busy for hearing or seeing small birds quietly going about their business. A couple of robins sang and a dunnock bobbed out of a willow bush to pick at some crumbs by the path.

Out on the water a raft of lesser black-backs drifted midwater or loafed about on unoccupied boats. A few cormorants and herring gulls flew about, there were more loafing on the bank with a lot of black-headed gulls over on the Rakewood Road end.

Looking towards Shaw Moss 

Along the Southern shore the fields were busy with sheep and jackdaws and noisy with a family of carrion crows. I scanned round on the off-chance of finding a passage migrant or two but just found a few woodpigeons sitting on fenceposts or devouring hawthorn berries.

I squeezed through the narrow gap by the fence and walked up the path to Shaw Moss. The fields were busy with woodpigeons and the sky busy with swallows. I let on to a birdwatcher coming back from Shaw Moss. He said he'd had redstarts in the hawthorns by the farm a couple of weeks ago, which was good news for him and I congratulated him but bad news for me because I'd been hoping to catch them today and they don't tend to linger. Never mind, it's a nice walk and a very quiet one too.

Shaw Moss 

Besides the woodpigeons and swallows there was the occasional house Martin and a handful of greenfinches and goldfinches twittered in the trees. A couple of black-headed gulls fossicked about by the caravan park and a juvenile buzzard was begging loudly somewhere over Rakewood.

Shaw Moss 

I walked up to the end of the path at Annis Hill Farm and wandered back towards Hollingworth Lake. Another couple of buzzards floated overhead followed by three more and all five soared noisily over the farms. I'd passed a small pond along the way, on my way back a heron flew in and sat by the side until a couple of horses were brought into the field for a bit of rest and recreation.

Teal, Hollingworth Lake 

It was fairly busy with birds at the hide by the lake, most of the noise being provided by the lapwings and black-headed gulls at the waterside. There weren't a lot of ducks and they all looked like youngsters, certainly the gadwalls and the couple of mallards were juveniles and I think most if not all of the dozen teal were, too. I don't see families of teal nearly often enough to be confident in the differences between immature and female plumages.

Teal, Hollingworth Lake 

I walked round to Rakewood Road where a swarm of swallows was hawking low over the fields. I drifted down to the visitor centre to add chaffinches to the day's tally then went for the bus back to Rochdale.

Swallows, Hollingworth Lake 

I got the 456 back to Rochdale. I wondered if I had the energy to get off at Wardle for a quicky nosy round Watergrove Reservoir. Dear reader I barely had the energy to remember to get off the bus at Rochdale.

By Rakewood Road 

Leighton Moss

Great white egret

I had a pile of compensatory travel vouchers burning a hole in my pocket so I used a few to buy an old man's explorer ticket for a wander round Leighton Moss on a muggy, sweaty, showery day.

I got off at Silverdale and walked round the corner. Robins sang in the trees and a mallard walked down the middle of the road, running to the side whenever a car came along then going back to the middle before heading off for the car park. It seemed alright in itself, just no road sense.

Goldfinch

First port of call was the Hideout where the feeding stations were getting a lot of traffic from robins, chaffinches, dunnocks, coal tits, great tits, blue tits, greenfinches, marsh tits, bullfinches, goldfinches and house sparrows with mallards tidying up below stairs. Such a contrast to the past few weeks.

Coot and shoveler

By far the most numerous duck at Lilian's Hide, indeed all the hides I visited today, were gadwalls. The drakes had finished their moults and were already whistling and head-bobbing to let the ladies know they were looking good. The mallards that were about skulked in the reeds and I could see no tufted ducks. There were a few shovelers about, they all looked like young birds. And there were plenty of coots. Over on the far side of the pool a great white egret was preening on the bank. A heron flew in and headed for the egret. I was expecting the usual punch-up, herons don't like GWE's, but it settled down a few yards away without incident. The dragonflies that were zipping over the pool, and there were many, all looked to be common darters except for the brown hawker I saw skimming over the reeds on the opposite side.

Great white egret

Gadwalls

As I came out of the hide I bumped into a mixed tit flock which seemed to be equal numbers of long-tailed, great and blue tits.

Heading for the reedbeds

The walk through the reedbeds to the hides was quiet, just the occasional chiffchaff in the trees or blue tits in the reeds.

Heading for the Tim Jackson Hide 

The pool at the Tim Jackson Hide was busy with gadwalls. A few mallards lurked in the long grass and a handful of teal dabbled in the far corner. The drake cinnamon teal x shoveler hybrid cruised by the far bank looking a lot more orange than usual in his fresh plumage. The mute swans cygnets here are quite young, they've still only got stubby wings even though they're pretty much full grown otherwise.

Gadwalls

When I got to the Griesdale Hide the rain that had been threatening came with a vengeance and there was a good ten minutes' heavy shower. The crows and jackdaws in the field beyond beat a retreat into the trees. There weren't so many gadwalls here and they and the great white egret on the bank weren't much fussed about the weather.

Walking back from the Griesdale Hide 

The rain eased off and I wandered back, passing a Cetti's warbler practising its vocals. The humid conditions seemed to suit the common darters that were zipping round the reedbeds. It was uncomfortable walking so I decided to call it quits and go for the next Barrow train to check out the Morecambe Bay estuaries. The sun came out for the five minutes I waited for the train bringing out a lot of large whites together with a brimstone butterfly and my first painted lady of the year. A common hawker zipped past, a Southern hawker took its time and patrolled both platforms.

As we crossed the Kent Estuary at Arnside there were a few dozen redshanks feeding on one of the mudbanks. There had been enough rain lately to bring the little egrets back to the salt marshes and there were dozens of black-headed gulls loafing on the beaches of Grange-over-Sands. The flocks of eiders on the Leven Estuary were smaller than the last time I came this way and seemed to be all young birds. There were a lot more redshanks here, too.

I got off at Ulverston to catch the train back to Manchester. As we crossed back over the Kent Estuary a flock of a few dozen lapwings lined the mudbanks inland of the viaduct together with sixty-odd redshanks and a couple of dozen eiders. 

There were more redshanks, lapwings and teal on the coastal pools by Leighton Moss together with a small flock of black-tailed godwits. I sort of hoped that the juvenile purple heron that's hiding out there might get spooked by the train and show itself as we passed by but it wasn't happening. A lad can dream.

As the train stopped at Deansgate a male peregrine came flying low over the station, the first time I've seen any of the city centre peregrines in ages.

Longendale

Guelder rose 

After yesterday's debacle I put today's plans in ice. I decided to keep things local but then it started pouring down and I struggled to think of anywhere local that had much shelter. In the end I decided to get the train to Hadfield and have a quick look at the Longendale Trail before scuttling back for the next train. The trains are every half hour and the service consists of two trains shuttling between Piccadilly and Hadfield so it tends to be reliable. And so it was, despite all the late runnings and cancellations being announced at Oxford Road and Piccadilly.

Longendale Trail 

The rain was steady but not heavy when I got to Hadfield. I decided I'd walk as far as the bench overlooking Bottoms Reservoir and back just to get the bit of exercise. Jackdaws and woodpigeons sat on the chimney pots of Hadfield but as I walked round the corner and joined the trail the trees were silent except for the sound of rain hitting leaves.

The path not taken

Just past the entrance I noticed a path I hadn't seen before. I'd assumed the wall went into the hedgerow but there's a gap and a rough path runs parallel to the trail on the other side of the drain then goes into the trees. It wasn't the weather for exploring rough paths. I'll bear it in mind, though.

Under the bridge

I'd reached the Padfield Main Road bridge when the first chiffchaff of the afternoon squeaked in the trees. Beyond the bridge there were woodpigeons feeding quietly in the hawthorns or sitting out the rain in the treetops. Every so often I'd hear quiet contact calls of blackbirds, robins or great tits.

Longendale Trail 

Counterintuitively there were more birds in the more open country than in the wooded stretch of the trail. Dunnocks called in brambles and a willow warbler from the trees by a field of cattle. The surprise of the afternoon was a family of chiffchaffs bouncing through the trees including four very fidgety youngsters that still had yellow gapes and very short wings. And not one of them could stay still for a moment, adding to my "There was a warbler there" portfolio of pictures.

Bottoms Reservoir 

I reached the bench and looked over the reservoir. There was nothing on the water except a couple of buoys and nothing visible at this distance on the banks. Jackdaws and carrion crows called from the fields. The rain asserted itself and I walked back to the station, a couple of robins doing vocal exercises in the hedgerows along the way.

Guelder rose