Martin Mere

Whooper swan and black-headed gulls

It promised to be a dry and potentially sunny day so I set off for Burscough Bridge for a walk down to Martin Mere. I hoped to see the red-breasted goose again but if I was unlucky with that there'd still be plenty to see.

As the train trundled through a damp landscape the effects of recent rains were everywhere to be seen. The Middle Brook at Lostock was a raging torrent where usually it's a lazy burble. At Wigan both the Douglas and the Wigan Canal had overflown. And the lake that had been a field just outside Parbold had a couple of hundred black-headed gulls loafing on it. I decided I wasn't going to take the long walk back to New Lane from Martin Mere, if there were any rare warblers on the boundary fence of the sewage works they could be discovered by somebody more amphibious than myself.

Pink-footed geese, Red Cat Lane

Leaving Burscough Bridge and walking down Red Cat Lane I was struck by the absence of rooks in the fields — they were all too busy sorting out their nests in the rookery by the station. Hundreds of pink-footed geese flew between fields, not so much in skeins as braided ribbons.

Fieldfares and starlings, Red Cat Lane

There were plenty of fieldfares and starlings in the trees by the hedgerows, keeping well away from the female kestrel watching the potato field from the top of the hedge. I didn't realise how many fieldfares and starlings were hiding in plain sight in the fields until a marsh harrier made an appearance and scared the lot of them up. There was easily a couple of hundred of each of them. Most flew back into the fields once the harrier had moved on but a noisy good few dozen stayed chattering in the treetops by Crabtree Lane.

Fieldfare, Red Cat Lane

The road just before Curlew Lane was flooded, I noticed a couple of houses had sandbags piled by their front doors. Half a dozen little egrets joined the donkeys in the field by Brandeth Barn.

I made the mistake of taking the pedestrian entrance to Martin Mere. It doesn't take much rain to make this unpleasantly muddy, it was ankle-deep today. As I was admitted to the reserve I suggested, yet again, that it might be a good idea to put some gravel down on the path to try to make it passable. There's no objective reason why I should have been so browned off about this for the rest of my visit, after all these years I should expect no better. I think in part it's because I'm getting depressed by nature reserves that put more effort into providing play activities for children rather than keeping footpaths passable, something that's been putting me off Pennington Flash lately.

Greylags, wigeon, pintail, mallard, whooper swans, black-headed gulls, shovelers, coots and shelduck

Anyway, I was in, it wasn't raining and the mere was covered in wildfowl and lapwings. There didn't seem as many wigeon as usual, there were hundreds of mallards.

Lapwing, mallards and pintails

Whooper swans

It was midday so there were only a few dozen whooper swans, the rest will have been out feeding on the fields like the pink-footed geese. 

Pintails

There were plenty of greylags on the mere and a handful of Canada geese. I looked in vain for the red-breasted goose. It hadn't been reported this morning so I concluded it had gone walkabout (it was reported here later in the afternoon). It was the pintails' turn to start courting, the drakes indulging in a lot of head-bobbing and quiet bubbling quacks.

Mallards

I checked out the mere from the screens where the old Swan Link Hide used to be. No red-breasted goose but plenty of ducks agreeably close to hand. The path to the Janet Kear Hide and beyond was busy so I turned and headed for the hides on the other side of the reserve.

Pintail

As I walked by the Raines Observatory a mixed tit flock — long-tailed, blue and great tits — bounced through the trees and a mixed flock of goldfinches, greenfinches and chaffinches fed on the alder cones in the treetops. There were more of them on the feeders further along but again there was no sign of tree sparrows.

Robin

There was another mixed tit flock at the Kingfisher Hide, jostling with chaffinches, robins and dunnocks for a place on the feeder by the reflecting pool. A goldcrest flew across the doorway into the trees as I went inside.

Chaffinch

Blue tit

There was a brambling amongst the chaffinches in the hedgerow by the Ron Barker Hide. It was a lot more skittish than the chaffinches and made sure it had plenty of twigs between itself and any birdwatchers' cameras. I quickly gave up trying, not least because this stretch of the path was underwater.

Buzzard

There were at least a hundred teal at the Ron Barker Hide, most of them in the central drain, which was lapping at the tops of its banks. A couple of buzzards sat in the trees by the reedbeds, occasionally letting themselves be moved on by crows and coming back almost immediately. A marsh harrier drifting low over the far end of the reedbeds was the only one I saw in the reserve today.

From the Ron Barker Hide 

I walked back, checking the ivy-covered trees for tawny owls and getting the usual result.

At first sight this field on Tarlscough Lane looked empty. There were fifty-odd fieldfares feeding on it.
There's a dozen in this picture!

I called it quits and headed back to Burscough Bridge, taking the car park exit and walking down the road on my way out. It was quieter on my way back: there were still dozens of fieldfares, starlings and pink-footed geese about but they weren't as conspicuous as they had been in the morning.

Tarlscough Lane 

I could have dawdled a great deal more on my way back: the train to Oxford Road was cancelled so I had to wait another half hour for the train to Victoria then wait the best part of half an hour at Salford Crescent for the next Oxford Road train. It had been a fine Winter's day and the birdwatching had been good and I was annoyed at myself for not having enjoyed it.

Tarlscough Lane 

Muddy boots

Robin, Amberswood

I needed the exercise after yesterday so I had another go at yesterday's walk once I'd made sure the cat had tuna and the spadgers had fat balls and sunflower seeds (an extravagance, I know, but it's been bringing the goldfinches back in).

House sparrow, one of the "tawny" family, Stretford

Collared doves, Stretford

At the Trafford Centre I got the 132 to Wigan, the idea being to get off at Dangerous Corner (I do not invent these place names) and walk up to Daisy Hill Sewage Works (I repeat, I do not invent these place names). The water pipit I didn't manage to see last Winter is back so I thought I'd give it another go.

I got off at Dangerous Corner and tried — and failed — to find the end of the footpath I discovered last time when I was walking South from Daisy Hill. In the end I gave up and took the footpath up to Daisy Hill that runs North on the other side of the sewage works, thinking I might pick up the other path at the other end.

Walking to Daisy Hill

It was a bright, cloudy day which had brought out the woodpigeons and blackbirds on the way over. There were plenty of blackbirds in the hawthorn bushes in the fields by the path and a flock of blue tits and great tits bounced their way around them. The first hundred yards was atrociously muddy, the consequence of its being used as a bridleway though judging by the prints and broken down fence somebody had taken a rhinoceros for a walk recently. Robins and dunnocks took advantage of the disturbed ground and stood and watched while I disturbed it further. 

A dozen skylarks, Daisy Hill

I crossed the brook onto the open stubble fields where a dozen skylarks did a very good job of being invisible whenever they settled and a few magpies and black-headed gulls were raking over the pieces.

I couldn't find the footpath I was looking for. Google Maps suggested walking into the water treatment works for a wander but seeing as it's got big gates with "Keep out" on them I decided not to. Instead, seeing as there's a bus stop for the number 7 to Wigan at the corner of the lane and one was due in seven minutes I took the hint and waited for that in the company of a flock of starlings and a goldcrest.

The number 7 goes past Amberswood so I got off for an afternoon stroll. As I joined the path a flock of greenfinches gathered in the trees and a couple of robins fed on the ground. A mixed tit flock moved quietly through the gorse bushes, a willow tit making a point of popping out to have a look at me before retreating back into the depths. All the small bird noises were the dropping of dry leaves and the popping of gorse seedpods.

Amberswood 

I got to the point where the path diverges and one track drops down to the lake. One of the dog walkers stopped and told me that she'd just seen some deer down the other path so I took that to see where it went and whether or not I'd have the same luck. I hadn't gone far when I discovered I'd made the right choice: a beagle was doing a fair impersonation of the Hound of the Baskervilles down by the lake. A large, dark shape moving through the trees turned out to be a particularly dark, sooty brown buzzard with not a lot of white to its underparts. A bit further down, in one of the open glades, a sparrowhawk flashed by followed by a lot of relieved pinking in the trees behind me as a flock of chaffinches did a roll call. I had no luck with any deer, not altogether surprising given all the dog walkers and the howling beagle.

The path curves round at the corner near Liverpool Road and heads towards the lake, emerging about halfway down the path I took last week. I looked in vain for the juvenile scaups that were there last time but was compensated by a goldeneye amongst the tufted ducks. A lone first-Winter great crested grebe floated in the middle of the lake while a pair of dabchicks steamed across in close formation. It took me a while to find the teal in the edges of the reedbed. The mallards were a lot easier, they were congregated in the open water at the top end and were very busy and vocal with their billing and cooing. While I was watching them in the setting sun I was surprised to hear a chiffchaff calling in the trees behind me.

Tufted ducks, Amberswood

I didn't have time to do more than say hello to Low Hall in the twilight before the 559 to Bolton was due. A flock of long-tailed tits flitted by and a few dozen jackdaws flew in to roost in the trees. Not a bad end to the day.

Amberswood 

Mosses

Fieldfare, Chat Moss

I didn't want to waste a bright, sunny December day so I went for a stroll across the Salford mosses. The weather stayed fine, if a bit nippy, but I had to work a bit at the birdwatching. Which is no bad thing, it gets boring if you're spoonfed all the while. I got the lunchtime train to Irlam and set off up Astley Road. Unusually, the Zinnia Street house sparrows were busy elsewhere and the hedgerows were relatively quiet.

Woodpigeons, Irlam Moss
This is the largest number of woodpigeons I'd seen at one place at one time in Greater Manchester for about a month.

There were a few crows in the fields and a couple of blackbirds about. The kestrel was perched on one of the telegraph poles near the houses for a change. Its usual perch was occupied by a trio of woodpigeons. There were a couple more further down the road but at no time today we're there any flocks of any size. 

Irlam Moss 

Things picked up in the hedgerows by the Jack Russell's gate. I spent a while disentangling a mixed tit flock from a mixed finch flock. The family of long-tailed tits and the goldfinches were easy enough, the bullfinches and chaffinches were elusive and the great tits and blue tits were busy in some ivies. All the while three or four dunnocks noisily chased each other in the leafy debris and nettles in the undergrowth. There were more birds in the hedge running down the lane to Prospect Grange but all save a few blue tits were keeping to the densest parts of the hawthorns.

Stock doves, Chat Moss

I crossed the motorway and walked down to Four Lanes End. The paddocks by the motorway were busy with blackbirds and robins, the hedgerows dead quiet. I was thinking that the turf fields were being a bit barren, a good crop of carrion crows and magpies but no wagtails or gulls, when a flock of a dozen stock doves rose up and settled back down to feed by a pile of palettes. Somehow the rich, warm lighting brought out the blue shades of the doves' plumage. Further investigation found a flock of mistle thrushes and a pied wagtail behind a barn, a couple of distant kestrels and a passing cormorant.

Chat Moss 

Chat Moss 

At Four Lanes End a flock of blackbirds had found the only rowan berries for miles and a flock of fieldfares flew in from the stubble fields to chatter in the branches above my head as I tried, and failed, to find out what was making the loud knocking noise at the base of a tree.

Little Woolden Moss

I had a brief look at Little Woolden Moss, just to touch base really. It was quiet in the late afternoon sun (there's not a lot of time between lunchtime and late afternoon this time of year). The usual family of carrion crows bobbed around on the far side of the moss. Wrens, blackbirds and linnets were closer to hand. In the far distance a flock of a hundred or so lapwings were flying off to roost. I spent a while just drinking in the light and colour.

Little Woolden Moss 

I retraced my steps and headed off down Twelve Yards Road. There were more fieldfares flitting between trees. I checked them all out to make sure they were all fieldfares, I've no idea what I was hoping to find but it was nice to find a few redwings and a yellowhammer. I've been finding buntings a bit thin on the ground this Autumn and I'm not sure if that's down to bad luck, bad fieldcraft or something similar to what's been going on with the woodpigeons.

Twelve Yards Road 

The last of the chaffinches and meadow pipits were settling in to roost in the stubble fields while a pair of kestrels hovered over the rough margins on either side. A scan around in the hopes of finding a barn owl over the rough grazing found me a buzzard and half a dozen woodpigeons. I didn't see any of the dozen female pheasants in the barley stubble until they saw me and flew up into the middle of the field.

Cutnook Lane 

A buzzard was sitting in the trees at the corner of Cutnook Lane. It flew over into the denser trees on the other side of the road and watched as I set off down the lane. There were more blackbirds and a few robins, song thrushes and woodpigeons as the sun set. 

Cutnook Lane 

I was over the bridge and onto Merlin Road just in time for the 100 to the Trafford Centre to go past before I got to the bus stop so I had to walk down to Liverpool Road for the 67 into Eccles and catch a bus from there. I hadn't really been feeling the cold while I was walking but I felt it in my leg muscles as I stood waiting for the bus. Still, I'd got a few hours' exercise and the weather had been dead right.

Chat Moss 

West Kirby

Pale-bellied (left) and dark-bellied brent geese

For some reason West Kirby's often one of the last site visits of the year. The weather forecast looked iffy but it's been wrong all week so I thought I'd be fine for a walk round the marine lake then up to Red Rocks to see if I couldn't add brent geese to the year list.

It was warm and sunny in Manchester when I set off and I wondered if I wasn't overdressed. I needn't have worried.

Little Eye, Middle Eye and Hilbre

I got off the train at West Kirby and walked down to the marine lake in the teeming rain. It was low tide; in less atrocious weather I'd have walked over to Middle Eye. As it was I was wondering, not for the first time, why I do this to myself.

I had an anticlockwise walk round the lake. There wasn't a lot on the lake itself, except the half a dozen black-headed gulls on one of the jetties, as a group of windsurfers were taking advantage of the stiff breeze to do some stunt surfing.

Dee Estuary from the marine lake

There were a few herring gulls, black-headed gulls and redshanks on the nearby mud. There were more of them a little further out, together with a few curlews. Between the poor light and the rain on my binoculars there wasn't a lot of joy in trying to identify anything more than a hundred yards out. By the halfway mark I'd given up on the bins completely because I was doing better with the naked eye than through a film of rainwater. 

A duck flew up from the far end of the lake. Mercifully, it flew out over the mud then wheeled back low overhead before heading off towards Red Rocks so I could see it was a redhead red-breasted merganser.

Redshanks and dunlins

The rain lessened as I approached the far end of the lake, enough for me to wipe my binocular lenses dry enough to see through. The mud was littered with dunlins and redshanks. A few curlews fed a bit further out. The oystercatchers were a couple of hundred yards upstream.

Shelducks and pale-bellied brent goose

A flock of a couple of dozen shelducks kept together about fifty yards out. Along with five brent geese. Three of the geese were definitely light-bellied brents. One was a lot darker, the dark of the abdomen stretching down between and beyond its legs, a dark-bellied brent. And the one that was palling up with the dark-bellied brent was just as dark but the darkness stopped at its legs and was, presumably, a dark light-bellied brent. They moved on, walking along the mud parallel to the walkway before hopping over to feed on the seaweed on the lake margins.

Pale-bellied (left) and dark-bellied brent geese
(These are the same birds as the top photo)

Pale-bellied brent goose

Dark-bellied brent goose
(Notice how far back beyond the legs the dark colouring goes,)

Pale-bellied brent goose

I spent a short while checking out all the gulls and waders, just in case, but there was nothing more to add to the tally so I headed off back to the station before my cap shrank.

Dunlins

The plan was to head over to Southport and have one last try for a short-eared owl at Crossens. I was tempted to stop off at Moreton for the snow buntings on the revetment by Leasowe Lighthouse but the weather had closed in again so I decided to stick with the plan. It at least gave me the chance to dry off a bit.

I got into Southport an hour before sunset. I looked at the weather, I looked at the bad light, I decided to get the train home. Which was cancelled. So I bought rather a lot of crisps for me and some treats for the cat to see us into the New Year then waited for the next one.

One of those days where a really disappointing walk can still make for rewarding birdwatching.

Parkgate

Barn owl

It occurred to me that what with one thing and another it's been a few years since I last visited Parkgate. I was checking the train times and connections to Neston when I noticed there's a regular 487 bus service through to Parkgate from Liverpool. It worked out at four pounds cheaper, arriving at Neston ten minutes later than the train (assuming both connections worked) and at Parkgate about ten minutes before I would have had I walked. So I got the train to Liverpool and got the bus to Parkgate.

The journey into Liverpool was dead quiet up to Warrington (and standing room only from Widnes because it had been cut to two coaches). There were lots of woodpigeons in the trees all the way along the line. As we passed by the landscaped tip near Rixton the train disturbed a buzzard perched by the track, which disturbed a flock of chaffinches and a hovering kestrel as it flew off. There were more gulls than last time I did this journey with a distinct transition from mainly black-headed gulls up to Hough Green with mainly herring gulls on into Liverpool.

The bus journey was a rare treat and took just under an hour. Past Bebington I was the only passenger, we picked a couple more up at Thornton Hall.

Parkgate Marsh

It had been sunny when I left Manchester but raining in Liverpool. I needn't have worried though, it was overcast but dry at Parkgate. The Met Office reckoned it was 7°C but I wasn't convinced and the keening wind didn't back up the Met Office's argument any. Excellent walking weather.

The first bird I saw as I got off the bus was a male kestrel hovering over reedbed by the promenade. Looking out I could see a few mallards and teal on one of the pools and the first of a bumper bundle of marsh harriers. 

Marsh harrier

The promenade was very busy. As I walked down I'd have to hop onto the wall every so often for a scan of the marsh. More mallard and teal, a few distant wigeon, a lot of distant pink-feet. And more marsh harriers. At one point I had four in my field of view, floating over the marsh and putting up flocks of teal, redshanks and lapwings. The first egret of the day was a great white that was spooked by a male hen harrier that had flown in close to terrorise the teal in one of the pools. It was ten minutes after that I saw the first little egret.

Great white egret

Approaching The Boathouse there was another couple of great white egrets in the reeds with a couple of herons and rather a lot of woodpigeons. The "woodpigeons" feeding on a small rise a little further out turned out to be half a dozen stock doves.

I stopped for a few minutes at the car park and added a few meadow pipits and linnets to the tally.

The Boathouse

I walked down the path between the marsh and the golf course. More of the same but I was getting better views of the passing redshanks and curlews. A bunch of carrion crows were larking about on some fenceposts until a couple of the marsh harriers came too close. They were only slightly less jumpy when a raven cronked past.

The birdwatching was great but I wasn't enjoying the walk, it was far too busy (my own fault for choosing to do it this week). The light was starting to dim so I made my way back to the car park and propped myself up against the wall for a twilight vigil.

Another raven flew overhead. Hundreds of distant pink-feet flew in from the estuary. More mallards and teal flew into the reedbeds and small flocks of lapwings and starlings started to fly in to roost. The great white egrets were still out there, half a dozen herons lurked in the reeds by the car park and a few little egrets settled into distant pools.

Barn owl: first sighting

I'm not sure how I managed to stay socially-distanced against the wall but I did. The crowd that had built up suddenly went quiet. We'd all spotted it at the same moment. A barn owl slowly floated low over the reeds like so much tissue paper in the breeze. It came in close, less than fifty yards. Judging by the length of time it was down on the ground a couple of pounces were successful. After a quarter of an hour's sheer delight it flew off into the distance.

Barn owl

After one last look towards the owl I turned back to find myself watching a male hen harrier just over a hundred yards away making one last pass to make sure the lapwings and starlings knew he was there. They took the hint and took flight, together with flocks of a few dozen each of meadow pipits and linnets and a couple of skylarks.

Calm returned as the harrier moved on. Then not ten minutes later the barn owl was back, quartering the reedbeds in front of the car park wall. The light was pretty poor by now, so I was having to set the camera shutter speed manually, and getting better results as a consequence. I don't know why I keep forgetting to do this when I'm taking pictures at twilight.

Barn owl

Barn owl

Barn owl

Barn owl

Barn owl

The owl moved on and I decided I best had, too, I was starting to feel the cold. I'd let myself miss the half four bus from Neston to Liverpool so I'd have to wait for the half five from Parkgate and it was probably a good idea to walk down and have one last scan of the marsh from the benches before the last of the light.

Along the way I marvelled that the female kestrel hovering by the beer garden at the Boathouse could see anything on the ground given all the background light. It didn't seem to bother her, she managed to catch something smaller than a vole and flew off to enjoy its meal on one of the old fenceposts in the reeds.

A lot of disgruntled quacking alerted me to a female marsh harrier quartering the reeds a couple of hundred yards out from the bus stop. 

Parkgate

I had a while to wait yet so I decided to get the week's shop done in Neston. As I walked over in the dark a couple of flocks of pink-feet flew low overhead.

Got the bus at Neston, into Liverpool in time for the train to Irlam and a short wait for the train home. A very excellent afternoon.