Martin Mere

Whooper swans, mallards, wigeons and shelducks

As it was likely to be the last calm day of the week and no rain was forecast I headed over to Martin Mere for the wander round I've kept postponing due to the weather.

It was a quiet ride down to Burscough Bridge. As I got off the train a few jackdaws were fussing round in the rookery but the rooks themselves were nowhere about. 

Pink-footed geese, Red Cat Lane 

Although it was a milder sort of day it felt cool, something I put down to the grey dampness of the air until I put my hand in my jacket pocket to get my notebook and realised I hadn't put it on, I was just wearing my overcoat. The first field out of town was half-carpeted with hundreds of pink-footed geese. They kept a gap of about fifty yards between themselves and the road and the sentries kept an eye on passersby, including me. They were okay with my taking photos and moving on but a few minutes later they disappeared en masse with the arrival of a pickup at the edge of the field behind them. A complete absence of any of the usual farmland birds on the fields was notable. As were odd remnants of the flooding that probably drove them away.

Pink-footed geese, Red Cat Lane 

Cattle egret, Red Cat Lane 

I passed Crabtree Lane and on the curve of the road I stopped and wondered what the white shape was at the corner of one of the fields. I'm struggling to process the idea of the cattle egret as a standard part of the Lancashire farmland scenery.

Looking at the path heading for the reedbed walk decided me against heading that way to New Lane to see if any warblers were in the trees  by the water treatment works. At Martin Mere I headed straight for the Discovery Hide out of the rain.

Martin Mere 

The mere was busy with waterfowl and waders but not as crowded as usual. Immediately in front of the hide half a dozen black-tailed godwits fussed about on the bank. Mallards and pintails dozed, tufties and pochards dived and the air was filled with the whistles of wigeon though there seemed to be a lot fewer of them than usual. 

Pintail 

Pochard 

Black-tailed godwit

Black-tailed godwit 

Black-tailed godwit 

Pintail 

Whooper swan 

Whoopers, shelducks, coots, mallards and wigeons

Scores of whooper swans drifted about. Unusually they were accompanied by a couple of mute swans, it's a while since I've seen them on the mere, they usually favour the reedbed pools. It took me a while to find the teals and shelducks out there and nearly all the greylags were on the far bank with a lot of lapwings. A marsh harrier drifted over and was immediately mobbed by reed buntings, lapwings and black-headed gulls.

Walking down to the Raines Observatory 

The trees on the walk down to the Raines Observatory were busy with titmice and goldfinches and a couple of redwings called from the treetops before going to feed on the grass by the car park. The banks at this end of the mere were showing damage caused by the recent floods. All the sparrows on the feeders nearby were house sparrows. They were almost outnumbered by reed buntings.

The view from the Kingfisher Hide as was

All the feeding stations by the Kingfisher Hide as was have been removed. A little egret rummaged its way round the reeds by the small pool.

Pheasant

The pools at the Ron Barker Hide were busy with teals and wigeons. The usual dozen or so shovelers were about but took some finding as they were spending a lot of the time in the reeds. A pheasant struck poses on one of the fenceposts in front of the hide.

The view from the Ron Barker Hide 

Walking back I realised that the reason why one patch of hedgerow near the hide was seething with goldfinches and greenfinches was a couple of seed feeders hung up in some of the hawthorns. It's always nice to see double figures of greenfinches in one spot.

Ruff and coot

Black-tailed godwit 

Ruff

I decided against heading for the reedbed walk and just had one last look at the Discovery Hide before leaving and got the first ruff of the year as a reward.

Cattle egret and common gulls, Red Cat Lane 

Cattle egret and common gulls, Red Cat Lane 

On the walk back to Burscough Bridge Station it occurred to me I wouldn't have had cattle egret and common gulls on my British Farmland Birds bingo card.

The view from the Ron Barker Hide