Martin Mere

Lapwings

I thought I'd best get that visit to Martin Mere done while the weather's fine so I got the train to Burscough Bridge and after a bit of a delay arrived in brilliant sunshine. As I walked down Red Cat Lane I said good morning to a chap mowing his lawn and he said: "There's a snow goose at Martin Mere on the plover field behind the mere." I thanked him for the tip and carried on.

Rooks, Burscough 

The rooks were busy and very noisy on the edge of town, congregating in the trees and on the telephone wires. There were a lot more on the fields now the spuds have been dug up and ground ploughed, in the company of dozens of woodpigeons, a small flock of stock doves and a covey of eight red-legged partridges. Over the road in the barley stubble a few more woodpigeons and rooks were outnumbered by jackdaws. A couple of pied wagtails flew overhead and a grey wagtail called from a rooftop.

Red-legged partridges, Red Cat Lane 

Starlings, Red Cat Lane 

I was almost at Curlew Lane when the first waves of pink-footed geese flew overhead, a couple of hundred of them and their evocative calls. Skylarks frolicked in the barley stubble across the road and more called from the corn on the corner of the road which actually was as high as an elephant's eye. A crowd of starlings seemed to be having a competition to see who could sit closest to the telegraph pole on the corner. At the corner of Marsh Moss Road a couple of buzzards quietly caught the thermals and floated over to Martin Mere.

Black-headed gulls and coots

Mallards

Arriving at Martin Mere I went straight to the Discovery Hide for a look at the mere. The water was unsurprisingly high and mostly covered in mallards and coots. A scan round found me handfuls of pintails, teals and shovelers. The bits of the islands still showing above water were densely covered in dozing mallards, lapwings and black-headed gulls, starlings skittering about amongst them. Most of the shelducks are still away in moult, there was just one asleep on one of the rafts. Over on the far bank greylags, Canada geese and cormorants loafed and more starlings skittered around. Further beyond I could see a few cattle egrets bouncing up and down on the grazing cattle. It's odd how blasé I'm getting about cattle egrets in Lancashire.

Marsh harrier

A marsh harrier flew in and put up the lapwings and starlings. As they wheeled about I spotted a couple of snipe in the crowd. The tables were turned on the harrier as it was chased off by angry lapwings.

Lapwing and marsh harrier 

Lapwings and marsh harrier

Lapwing and marsh harrier 

Pink-footed geese 

I could see a lot of pink-footed geese densely packed on the plover field but no sign of a snow goose. A couple of little egrets flew about just to confuse things a bit. I decided I needed a change of angle so bobbed round to the Raines Observatory where I could see a white blob in the crowd. From the Hale Hide I could see enough to be sure it wasn't a carrier bag and a couple of times the snow goose woke up and lifted its head before going straight back to sleep.

Pink-footed geese
Spot the snow goose!

Marsh harrier 

The Ron Barker Hide was packed so I didn't stay long. There was a slightly better view of the snow goose. There weren't any ducks or waders on the pools and only a handful of coots in the drain. The marsh harrier drifting about low over the reeds on the far side of the pool may have been a factor in the drought. A male kingfisher made a cameo appearance, striking poses on a dead branch in front of the hiding before flying off down the drain.

Kingfisher 

I wandered back and drifted over to the reedbed walk. Along the way I passed a small mixed tit flock, so dispersed through the trees as to hardly count as a flock, and a noisy flock of goldfinches on the feeders by the Raines Observatory. A look at the mere from the screens found me a couple of gadwall and a pair of wigeon, the male still in bright ginger eclipse plumage. A Cetti's warbler sang on the approach to the Janet Kear Hide.

Pink-footed geese 

I decided I'd see if there was a better view of the geese to be had by the Rees Hide by the reedbed walk. There was, but the snow goose wasn't among them. Being greedy I looked round for any bean geese or white-fronts and found a couple of Canada geese. All the while I was looking there were migrant hawkers zipping round the vegetation by the path and Southern hawkers patrolling the willow trees and coming over to give me the eyeball which was a bit distracting.

There were more pink-feet swimming and bathing on the pool at the Rees Hide. A few lapwings flew in, tried to find something to land on and gave up and flew away. A couple of ladies asked if I'd seen the snow goose, I said I had but couldn't see it from this side of the reserve. They told me it was at the Harrier Hide.

Snow goose and Canada geese 

On the face of it the Harrier Hide would be an odd place to find a snow goose, it's the haunt of greylags and Canada geese rather than pink-feet. Birds don't pay any attention to where we think they should be so there was the snow goose, showing well and busily preening in a corner of the pool.

Winter Hill from Red Cat Lane 

The walk back to Burscough Bridge as the clouds rolled in would have been quieter than the walk out but for the waves of hundreds of pink-feet flying out to the fields for their late afternoon feed. The rooks were busy in the fields as I passed but they started to fly in to roost with the jackdaws as I waited for the train from the station.

Rooks, Red Cat Lane