Back to the Southside

The Safari blames all the recent dull, grey, light-less, gloomy weather on a neighbour that has put a huge array of solar panels on his roof. Since they've been connected we doubt that they've made enough juice to power more than a handful of LED lamps for him it's been that sunless since his scaffolding came down.

With bad light and cold weather we were taken southwards by CR. Our first port of call was the small but perfectly formed Longton Brickcroft reserve where at the tail end of last year there was a very confiding Scaup. Between now and then the lakes had frozen over during the cold snap we had forcing the water birds to move elsewhere, but had it returned with the bread-hungry Mallards it was associating with once the thaw had come? No was the answer, plenty of bread-hungry Mallards were back though. A wander round the south lake produced a small flock of Tufted Ducks and this breeding plumaged Great Crested Grebe which teased us by almost coming closer then diving and reappearing further away again...dohhh.

Always good to see and hopefully we'll be back to witness the courtship dance in the next few weeks  or so.

On the way for a quick look at the north lake we passed several Robins all appearing to be wanting a free meal.

At the risk of being mugged by them we hastened quickly by. Only to stop abruptly when CR spotted a Bullfinch high in a pathside try - it turned out to be a female (double points on our Challenge) but we just couldn't get a decent snap of it through the dense twiggery. The north lake was very quiet best on offer was a pair of Shovelers, a Wren and a Dunnock...and more hungry Robins. 

We moved on to Martin Mere WWT where, due to our later than usual arrival, for a change we headed straight to the feeding station which was pretty busy. We could hear the twitterings of small birds many yards before getting to the hide. Once settled in our seat it didn't take long to get a pic of a double-pointing female Greenfinch.

There was a small flock of them vying for position on the feeders with numerous Goldfinches.

There's not so much feeding of the Robins here so they have to fend for themselves a lot more. This one was on a floating log hoping to reach some spilled seeds drifting over from the feeders hanging above the water.

As we've said the light was really gloomy so please excuse grim and grainy pics. 

The feeders here regularly attract Great Spotted Woodpeckers and today was no exception.

As is normal at almost any feeding station except the one at Base Camp there's always a Blue Tit or ten to be seen.

The local Reed Buntings also take advantage of the feeders, often hanging around in the surrounding bushes waiting for a quieter moment to make their approach.

After a good while enjoying the feeder action we moved on but discovered a work party out on the marsh attending a big bonfire - burning cut Willow? There does appear some serious bush and shrub removal from the marsh this winter, possibly to remove 'watching perches' for the corvids and some birds of prey which might have been impacting the nesting waders during the spring and summer. Anyway the adjacent pool was almost devoid of birds so we turned back and headed to the  other end of the Nature Trail passing the Redwings feasting on worms in the grassy over-flow car park.

Further on there's another feeding station which until recently was frequented by a colony of Tree Sparrows which has now, we think, died out as we've not seen one here for a long time. It was frequented by a solitary Collared Dove. #84 for our Challenge.

Butties and pies were munched at the Ron Barker Hide from which we could see about 1000 Pink Footed Geese resting in the field to our right. If they got up it would be a spectacle of sight and sound but they were very relaxed this afternoon. Lapwings are rarely, if ever, relaxed and this roosting flock was up and down like a yo-yo, we're certain they frighten themselves as there was never anything scary close by to make them flush. We only saw four different Marsh Harriers all afternoon but none of them came anywhere near these Lapwings.

Apart from the Lapwings all was peaceeful out there and with not many birds about we took to taking snaps of passing Black Headed Gulls - as you do!

One of the Marsh Harriers thought about coming a bit closer but then changed its mind and wafted back the way it came before we could raise the camera. It did however cause a tiny bit of consternation among the geese and some took to the water for safety.

As you can imagine the Lapwings were up in yet another panic even though it was nowhere near them.

They soon settled down once they'd realised none of them were in any danger of anything.best of the rest was a pair of Moorhens working their way along and down the tractor tyre ruts,

and CR spotted a colourful male Stonechat that disappeared into the reed-filled pond. We hoped it would pop out on the reeds within range at the nearest edge but it was never seen again. CR also managed to get apic of a fly-past Cattle Egret, these are much harder to come by here now that the herd of English Longhorns has been brought into the barns for the winter. We wonder if they've ever thought about co-grazing the marshes with Konik Ponies alongside their cattle - we'll have to ask next time we're there. It was time to move on and the Discovery Hide beckoned. We passed the Redwings again and one of them had turned into a Song Thrush.

Meanwhile most of the Redwings were refusing to pose for our cameras except one which was poking around a rather large Mole hill.

As soon as we reached the Discovery Hide we saw the regular strikingly white male Ruff stood at the water's edge right in front of us.

Very close by was another white one with a bit more moulting to happen before it gains the full plumage.

Behind them, in the water, all the usual waterfowl were present including one of our favourites - drake Pochards, this is one of 10 present.

With the Ruff on the bank were several Black Tailed Godwits - my do they bicker! They'd get much more feeding done and waste a lot less energy  if they didn't stop to fight each other so much. They really don't like other members of their species invading their personal space, but they are ambivilent to other species coming close and even get out of the way when a Coot comes striding towards them. There was lots of fighting going on this afternoon so we tried to capture some of the action for you.

As suddenly as it kicks off it all settles down to an uneasy truce. Behind them on the water are the stars of the show the Whooper Swans for which the reserve is a nationally important wintering site for them. The air is filled with their coversational honking - if you can hear it above the incessant bickering whickering of the Black Tailed Godwits and the mewing of the terrified (of their own shadows) Lapwings overhead. It really is an awesome soundscape, a delight for the ears.

It didn't take long before the Black Tailed Godwits were fighting again, with those beaks its a wonder they don't have each others' eyes out!

We left the godwits to their squabbles and went for another look at the feeders which were still busy. A male Greenfinch being first up.

Then we decided we'd try to get some flight shots as birds appraoached the feeders. Maybe we should have saved that for a brighter day as the high shutter speeds made for noisy photos so noise reduction has been applied with a trowel!

Some of the Chaffinches have very manky feet and if you read last week's missive when you see them you'll understand why the RSPB are concerned enough to pull their feeding stations and are changing the advice they give about feeding the birds at home.

As with the Blue Tits earlier there's always Great Tits around a feeding station too.

Thankfully some of the Chaffinches here have healthy feet.

Unlike last week's safari at Leighton Moss this week we did see some mammals, the ubiquitous Grey Squirrrel being the first.

Back on the feeders we had symmetrical female Greenfinches

and a healthy footed female Chaffinch.

The most beligerent birds on the feeders are the Goldfinches but they've just about met their match when coming up against the much bigger Greenfinches.

They take some shifting though, needing to be dragged off the perch.

The Reed Buntings wait patiently among the reeds beneath the feeders for scraps to drop.

This one looks like it's doing the Black Heron casting shade with its wings to help secure a meal but it's only trying to balance on the wobbly stem. They are dapper looking birds as they approach their full springtime nuptula plumage.

Reed Bunting interlude over we went back to taking in flight snapshot. 

Oh look - Goldfinches bickering like Black Tailed Godwits again!

A Coal Tit appeared briefly.

Followed a few minutes later by a lively flock of Long Tailed Tits that provided plenty of entertainment trying to second guess where one would land and hopeful stay still ong enough for us to press the shutter button.

We'd noticed a couple of times a brown shape swimming underwater beneath these feeders, we couldn't tell but did know it was a Brown Rat. It must have had an underwater hole to its burrow and was foraging from that for fallen food on the pond bottom, turning round and returning to the burrow all on one breath. Eventually one did venture out 'topside'.

Had a quick scratch then wandered off not to be seen again. Still it was a two mammal day so we can't grumble after last week's dip.

High above this minimal rat action the Long Tailed Tits were still giving us the runaround. Persistence paid off and we did manage to get a shot away from the feeders.

So absorbed were we with all the activity at the feeders, again the soundscape was phenomenal (next time we go we should get some video so you can hear the cacophony for yourselves), that the afternoon was passing quickly so it was time to head back to the Discovery Hide and wait for the Shelduck scrum-down aka the 3pm Swan Feed. If anything this safari was noteable for it's lack of raptors, so far we'd only seen four Marsh Harriers. Whilst having a scan of the Mere for the Avocets that had been seen on the reserve the previous day, the first returnees, we spotted our second raptor species of the day...a Kestrel miles away and a male to boot although at that range we doubt we'd have got a female, had it been one, past the Challenge adjudicators. The pic is so poor we haven't submitted it for #85, we'll ahve to wait for a much much closer one.

As the feed time drew near birds started to arrive from the other side of the pool to claim prize position.

Grey Lag Geese also came in, they'd been rather un-noticed all day.

As the afternoon progressed more and more gulls came in from the fields to roost and as ever we diligently searched through them for the holy grail, a Mediterranean Gull, or even something rarer (unlikely but you never know this pool has entertained a Franklin's Gull - which we dipped ARRRGGGHHH). Across the pool  you could still see the smoke from the worker's bonfire although it looks like they'd now finished for the day

More ducks flew in to await the free handout. Airbrakes ON...

A small flock of Jackdaws flew past going to roost elsewhere or perhaps getting in position at the site of the 3.30pm feed in front of the next hide along.

To our left a group of Pintails seemed to have found a food source missed by everyone else all day, there were a lot of bottoms up and a lot of swirling around.

The last of the Shelducks flew in before the mayhem began.

We put the camera down when the warden appeared with the wheelbarrow of grain and just sat appreciating the bonkers spectacle unfolding before our eyes (and ears). First up onto the bank where the grain was cast were the Coots but they were soon swamped by hundreds of Shelducks followed quickly by the Mallards and Grey Lag Geese with the Pintail, Wigeon pushing in between where they could. Around the edges of the melee the Ruff and Black Tailed Godwits probed for seeds that had fallen betwnn the stones and therefore out of reach of the waterfowl with their 'clunsier' beaks. The Pochards and Whooper Swans prefered to get their grain from beneath the water.

And then it was time to head back north across the river. Another great day on safari!

Where to next? Southbound again, maybe back here maybe quite a bit further afield, we're not sure which yet. 

In the meantime let us know who's sitting of distant posts in your outback.