Tuesday 2 January 2018

One out one new one in

The Safari joined our long time birding chums south of the river for a wintry day ornithologising at Martin Mere WWT reserve the other day. We started off at their new fully glazed hide to get a bit of warmth in our bones before we ventured out in to the wild wet weather.
The problem with a fully glazed hide is that while it may be more comfortable it does make you a bit queasy when looking through the bins at an angle through the glass and isn't that good for pics either, although we could have been anti-social and gone and sat in the end wing with normal opening viewing slats but this was a holiday get-together with the gang not a full blown twitching expedition.
There was the usual fine selection of winter wildfowl in good numbers...except for Pochards which are hugely down on recent years...such a shame as they are a splendid looking bird.
Many species of diving birds from a variety of Families have that red iris so it must have some evolutionary advantage for seeing in murky water.
Also close by were a handful of Ruffs and as AB noted - phoaarr look at the chiseled scapulars on that!
One of our favourite hides here is the Feeding Station where the stars of the show are the 'Bare Tailed Ground Monkeys' of which there were three today, two females and a juvenile. The sit under the feeders while bits dropped/discarded by the birds rain down like manna from heaven - life couldn't be easier. Having said that one of the adults had a huge open wound on its back possibly from a lucky escape from the Buzzard that arrived in a nearby tree and was eyeing them up.
The arrival of the Buzzard sent all the small birds scattering for cover except this Great Spotted Woodpecker which froze in the 'you can't see me - I'm not here' pose, a bit hopeful really!
The Brown Rats shuffled on in the mud unperturbed by the raptor's presence. After it had left and before the small birds returned one of them climbed up the logs at the base of the feeders 
it then made a leap of faith towards the bird table but that turned into a leap of doom when the jump failed to reach the table and the poor animal nosedived onto the squidgy mud below. 
More excitement was seen there when a Moorhen inexplicably flew about 10 feet up into a tree, unfortunately it was badly obscured so we were unable to get photographic proof of this somewhat unusual event.
Moving on between rain showers we had a look from the next hide which was pretty quiet and then narrowly missed a soaking getting to the final hide. Here we had splendid elevated views of the wetland and watched a Marsh Harrier quartering over the fields in the distance. While watching that a small bird of prey shot through and landed on a fence post in the distance. A Merlin (YBC #168). It was just about in range in the grotty weather - why can't these birds do us a favour and sit on the nearest post when the light is awful?
By now it was lunchtime and while some of the gang enjoyed the delights of the cafe those who'd brought butties sat in the foyer overlooking the 'captives' lake. Again we were shooting through a window but it's good to see some species in close-up detail that we don't see often and when we do they are a mile away across a field in the scope.
White Fronted Goose
After lunch we back out on the trail heading the other way this time. The first hide after the new hide is a windowed and heated affair nice but not good for venturing in to the cold afterwards. From here we added a female Goldeneye to the day's list, it took us ages to spot it as it spent most of it's time under water. As it's name suggest it doesn't have a red eye like the Pochards but if you're a diving bird and not got a red eye then golden yellow is the next most popular colour.
The next small hide is another favourite offering exceptional views of everybody's favourite birds, Coots and Moorhens - and if they aren't your favourite they ought to be! Today they were sadly lacking in close up views but a Little Egret wasn't. It walked out of a ditch and sat on the bank in the wind for several minutes before having a big old yawn - it's not often you get a good view of a Little Egret's tongue!
Next up the elevated Kingfisher Hide, normally noted for its big open panoramic-windowed freezingness but today strangely rather mild in there. Stars of the show were up to 19 of the once common Tree Sparrows at the feeders but there was a no-show from the Brambling that had been reported in recent days.
By the time we reached the final hide the light was going. Try as we might we couldn't find the Green Winged Teal in with the flocks of 'normal' Teal.
Watching a Whooper Swan on its way to its maker was a little macabre but why was it it that strange position propping itself up at an angle on half open wings and half extended legs with its bill on the ground - almost as if it was trying to coll itself down to make it's demise come sooner.
With the light fading fast and no sign of the hoped for Kingfisher we had to go before the car park was locked and so ended another excellent bird filled trip out with the 'Boiders'
Our last snap of the day was of a large fungus growing out of a Silver Birch trunk, Birch Polypore.
Roll on 36 hours and it's 2018. Happy New Year to all our readers, we hope it's a good one for you and filled with exciting wildlife.
With the new year starts another birding Year List and another Photo Year List Challenge with Monika and her friends.
The morning of January 1st was sunny and mild but as soon as we got out of the car at Marton Mere the clouds rolled in and heavy hail ridden showers ensued. We had a wander anti-clockwise taking in the feeding station and the caravan site side to get our Photo Year List Challenge started.
Grey Lag Geese
Mallard
Treecreeper - a good one for the list on Day 1 as we struggled to find many in 2017
Blackbird
Pheasant
Bullfinch - arrghhhh! But still the best pic of this species taken at Marton Mere - must try harder - - or manual focus!
A couple of Carrion Crows watching over the wetland
Not the best start to the year, especially with that out of focus Bullfinch, but not bad given the awful weather and everything else we saw we'll be able to get pics of in better conditions before too long.
We finished the day on 23 species for the year without putting much time or effort in - we put more in to staying dry and failed miserably!
Today we were relieved to find the camera had dried out without issue and that was despite having a waterproof cover on it! The rain was again heavy so we nipped out to the local waste depot to see if the Iceland Gull was about - it was, happy days!A grotty pic for #8 on our PYLC but acceptable given the dreadful weather.
We gave Monty a quick run on the nearby sodden field and picked up Grey Wagtail, flushed by mutt from a large puddle and then Common Gull - amazing that we were able to get Iceland Gull on our year list before this obviously much more common species of gull!
Driving past Stanley Park on the way back to Base Camp and lunch we spotted a few Tufted Ducks in the near corner of the lake bring up 31 species for the year.
Where to next? A we and windy promenade perhaps.
In the meantime let us know who's all blurry in your outback.

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