Non-birdy wildlife at Marton Mere followed by a good bird day there

The Safari was able to get an unexpected sneaky visit to Marton Mere yesterday morning.There were a few birds about the first notable one being a Cetti's Warbler in one of the ponds at the wetland on the way in. That was followed by a Sparrowhawk circling over the north western corner of the reserve. A few Skylarks were going over calling but unseen the continued on and off all morning, no idea how many were involved all together. 

We decided to go round anti-clockwise taking us to the Feeding Station first where it was quiet with only two Pheasants and two Chaffinches. A volunteer was mowing the path edges behind us and the noise was upsetting Monty so we high tailed it out of there, wasn't owt happening anyway. We'd just got out through the caravan site gate when four Redpolls (MMLNR #82) went over. They'd come from over the mere so hadn't been parked up in the Alders behind the Feeding Station. 

Moving further down the bank we didn't see much on interest until we came upon a smashed up mushroom.

Why do folk do that - fear of the unknown we guess going back to the 'all mushrooms are edible - some only once'. But if no-one's going to eat it why smash it up with a stick? Some folk are absolute numpties, so disassociated with wildlife and nature and sadly that's the norm now.

No more than a couple of yards away were two Shaggy Inkcaps which must have popped up after Mr/s Destruction had gone otherwise they'd no doubt be smashed up too despite being edible - and good...although we weren't going to take a bite out of these as they were very much in a dog zone!

While we were getting down n dirty with the Shaggy Inkcaps Monty's nose had taken him off to our left and he was pulling hard on his lead making us take notice of him again - good job we did he'd pulled himself within range of this Fox do-do and was just about to drop his shoulder for a good old roll in in it...Nooooooooo - only an idiot would have a dog!!! Fortunately we managed to drag him away from it before it was smeared all over his back - why do they do that - YUKKKKK

From the fence we could see there wasn't muxh by way of waterfowl or gulls in front of the Fylde Bird Club Hide so we opted to keep moving instead of going in, good move cos if we had have gone in we'd have missed the two Swallows scudding across the grassed area going westwards at a rate of knots.

With Redpolls and Swallows of interest spotted already we thought it best to call in at the visitor centre and report them officially. On the way up there we saw a cluster of Common Inkcaps - unsmashed and yet these can give you a seriously dicky tummy if eaten and you have alcohol in your system...best avoided unless your a total tee-totaller.

After a quick chat at the VC we continued our circuit. At the gate by the bridge over the outflow stream we found an interesting pellet sat on top of the rubbish bin. It's about the size of our thumbnail and almost spherical. We're not sure what it might have been produced by, Little Owl, Blackbird (bit big for one of those?) something else??? The snail is intriguing, we're no good at snail ID is it a terrestrial species or is it from the adjacent stream?

Some of the black bits look very much like beetle elytra (wing cases) which would point towards Little Owl, or maybe Kestrel perhaps - can anyone shed any further light on the ID? So far on Twitter we've had no response and on Facebook a 'Big Gun' is gunning for Little Owl. Thoughts anyone...over to you.

Our walk around most of the rest of the reserve was pretty uneventful apart from a couple of small flocks of Pink Footed Geese dropping in to the fields to the east but landing out of sight behind a rise in the ground and a handful more Cetti's Warblers scattered around the site. When we reached the path to the Viewing Platform we spied this rather impressive fungus at the side of the path, must be 18 inches end to end - a real beast! No idea what it is though.

At the Viewing Platform we hoped for a Bittern but it wasn't to be, 'just' a small flock of Long Tailed Tits working their way through the top of the recently pruned Willow tree to the left of the bench - great stuff as there is now a sweeping visita right around the northwest corner of the reedbed - just right for spotting any Bitterns popping up out of there and heading towards you.

Just as we were leaving a huge pall of thick black smoke came up from behind the barn just beyond the reserve's eastern boundary - doesn't look good but who ya gonna call? Fire brigade or the Environment Agency? Probably shoulda called the latter.

Framers eh? Sometimes we think they dshouldn't be allowed in the countryside - and we're from farming stock!

The walk back to the car gave us the same number of Goldcrests as we had all last weekend at Spurn - one, in the allotment hedge at the wetlands.

This morning dawned cold and clear, the sun hasn't risen now when we're out on Monty's early morning walk and today there was a crisp frost on the grass and car windscreens. As ever we look for the Peregrine on its usual (now unusual) perch but yet again no sign of it. But high up in the cold steel grey ether we heard another Brambling, none for 14 1/2 years then two in a couple of days! P1 #51)

Coming back on to the main road and looking down the hill we could see a huge swirl of Jackdaws, about 100 of them which we guessed must have roosted somewhere nearby.

Back at Base Camp we were pleased to find about half a dozen Blackbirds in the garden feasting on next door's Rowan berries and our Pyracantha bush.

Blackbirds we expect, maybe not as many as six but they are daily visitors but Starlings are another kettle of fish altogether, very rarely do they come in to the garden so to see three drop in begs the question are they local birds or migrants from afar that have possibly traveled on the coat tails of the Blackbirds...you decide.

Either way it was great to see them in the garden.

A flock of about 85 Jackdaws went over going south west, almost definitely not the 100 we'd seen earlier.

And with the sun shining we decided on taking Monty for another spin round Marton Mere. The walk started as yesterday with a/the Cetti's Warbler at the wetlands. We'd not gone far when we heard the unmistakable woosh woosh sound of Mute Swans' wings carving up the air. Two of them came low overhead making for Stanley Park lake.

So close we could only fit one of them in the frame.

We opted to give Monty a bit more of a run before putting him on his lead so went round the outside of the reserve along the bridlepath, here a patch of sunshine had warmed the place up enough for a Common Darter to fly past and alight on the fence to do a bit of basking and catch a few rays.

We carried on on our way and into the reserve (with Monty now on his lead) and set off along the embankment where we met TS. We'd gone that way on the off chance we might see the Bittern fly over the reedbed and/or hear the pings of a fresh-in Bearded Tit, there's been a bit of an influx along the north west coast line and our reed bed is as good as anyone elses!

While we were chatting we both saw a large black bird we both at first glance thought might be a Raven but when it banked it turned into our first Marsh Harrier here since before 2010. Unfortunately it stayed down the far end before dropping in to the reedbed somewhere near the scrape putting about 60 Teal to flight. We hoped that when it got up again it would come our way and we'd get some spectacular views of it wafting over the reedbed in front of us - no such luck it went down the far end again and then set off high to the north east and away.

We also noted a steady passage of Skylarks and a few Chaffinches from our spot on the embankment. Behind us were more Pink Footed Geese than we'd had yesterday and more still were going over further east.

TS went on his way and we stopped a few more minutes to watch a Sparrowhawk speed by and listen to Water Rails squalling and Cetti's Warblers exploding but not a peep out of any Bearded Tits that might have been but probably weren't lurking in the reeds.

We followed on in TS's footsteps passing a family who think it's acceptable to come in to a nature reserve and take away the birds and animals winter food supply - armed with a long pole to reach the Apples no-one else could reach - how many hundredweight of invaluable winter food is lost to these numpties each autumn - all for the sake of saving a few pence at the supermarket. We're only taking  two or three they told us, each with one of those large 'indestructible' carrier bags in their hands.

Tw*ts

Fortunately the morning picked up soon after that when we heard the soft 'peeuu' call of a Bullfinch and then watched a female lift out of the scrub fly a short distance and then drop back in again. That's the first sighting since early April. 

Our offer of a king sized Mars Bar for the person who gets a decent pic of one still stands, got to be better than our two paltry efforts so far to get that prize though.

Then we had 'bad news' from MMcG we'd just missed a Jay and a Bittern he told us, but we did get on to the two Whooper Swans that were cruising round the far end of the mere, our first actually on the water for several years.

We hung around chatting to the Ranger and volunteers for a while hoping the Bittern might show itself again - it didn't and they disappeared in to the reedbed to remove a substantial Willow growing on a bit of an island so went back towards the Feeding Station. We'd only gone a few steps when BOOM a flock of nine Coal Tits flew over us and went across to the trees in the caravan site - awesome as those over the other side of the pond say. No other species were in the flock and nine is at least six more than we've ever seen on site before!

Best of the rest were the shed loads of Jackdaws, must seen 1000 all morning up to now and a Great Spotted Woodpecker going east over the wetlands.

It was quieter back at Base Camp after lunch but thee were still a few Jackdaws on the move. After the school traffic had died down we took Monty out to the park, Patch 1, but without a camera - shoulda took one as as soon as we got there we spotted a Jay coming in from the east, very very seldom do we see them round here.

Sparrrowhawk and a Small White butterfly were best of the rest until we got home and had a Red Admiral perched up on one of our down pipes at Base Camp.

Where to next? An all day safari over to the Southside with CR tomorrow

In the meantime let us know who's reappeared in your outback

Billhooks at the ready

The Safari was able to get a good half hour or so at Lunt Meadows after our family duties at the end of last week. The sun was very bright and we thought the main attraction wouldn't be out n about until long after we'd had to leave. Long time birding chum JG was able to join us and told us of a Red Kite seen locally the previous day, we looked but there was no sign of it today.  Walking the riverbank we could see hundreds of Pink Footed Geese in the arable fields, they weren't too far away and the noise of their conversation was a delight to the ear. We stopped at the viewing screens from where the Short Eared Owls are often seen but word on the street marsh was that we'd just missed one having a quick fly round. 

We waited and waited as long as we could but eventually had to leave and head towards the car park. From our next vantage point five pr more minutes from the previous one we could see two Short Eared Owls flying around - how annoying! And within a few minutes J had counted no fewer than five in the air together! Too far for anything like a proper pic, these few are by far the best we could muster...if'd we stayed put a few minutes longer earlier we'd have been able to fill our boots with full frame pics in glorious low afternoon sunshine. The big question is will we have the opportunity to visit on a similar day later in the year.

Even at this range the views we got in our bins were spectacular, well worth bobbing in for on the way back to Base Camp.

Sunday afternoon we  had a jaunt out with Wifey and Monty to Scorton Nature Trail. It was quiet for birds but it's always a good walk round. There weren't many terrestrial fungi but many of the dead trees hosted huge numbers of fruiting bodies of many species, none of which we know the names of we're ashamed to say.

After all the recent rain the woods were flooded and  looked for all the world like the swamp forest of the south eastern United States.

Like those damp American forests there's plenty of epiphytes growing on the trunks of the larger trees, like this Bracken rooted in the thick layer of moss covering the bark of the living tree.

)

Detail of the Bracken spores

A possible quarry species had been seen a few times over the weekend and pics on the interweb were very tempting. All we needed was a sunny Monday morning, a sunny morning that didn't materialise leaving us a little frustrated but able to crack on with some jobs around Base Camp. Fortunately the sun came out at lunchtime and off we went 45 minutes down the road to a sewage works.

We pulled up and as soon as we got out of the car we were put on to the bird in question by the group of birders stood along the footpath around the side of the water works. We got a poor and almost inconclusive view in the darkness of the shrubs.  We got Monty out of the car and walked him further round the corner to stretch his legs. And wow just about the first bird we saw in a quickly moving flock of small birds was the Firecrest (189). We got crippling views of it with the bins as it worked its way through some felled stacked shrubs and bushes where it searched for tiny invertebrates. But could we get any pics? By eck it was tricky, never still and almost always hidden or at least half hidden in the twiggery.

Bottoms up - a typical view of the bright yellow feet

Close

Another quality typical view

Almost!

Darned twigs!

At least you can see its eye

Better

Much happier now!

Argh - motion blur

At last!

Very happy with this one; now if only we had the patience to clone out that annoying twig!

Very pleased to have got a Firecrest (YBC 165) on our Year Bird Challenge as it's a species that wasn't on our radar at all being scarce and unpredictable in Safari-land. Particularly pleased that we didn't have to wait for it as we've heard tales of folk having up to five hours standing along the footpath before it deigned to show itself.

It was associating with a mixed flock of tits and Goldcrests, the latter too were also very hard to get a decent pic of as they moved through the edge of the wood 20 yards the other side of the fence.

Also in the flock was an overwintering Chiffchaff and like the others refused to show itself properly. That is until we were just walking off back to the car when it came out and sat on the pathside vegetation, unfortunately we were at the back of the line and had to stretch our lens round the side of the peeps in front of us. 

We left rather chuffed with our efforts and on the motorway as we drove back it started raining again, how well timed was that!

Today start with a nice bonus. It's still dark when we take Monty out for his early morning walk and when we reached the little field beyond the water tower we flushed a Woodcock from the long and squelchy grass. The grass is still growing even though it's now December. not only is it still growing, Meadow Foxtail, Perennial Rye and Cocksfoot are in flower along with a few Daisies, Dandelions and the odd Creeping Buttercup here and there.

That wasn't the only good find of the morning. Our visit to Marton Mere LNR gave us only our second sighting of the Bittern this year. It flew along the top of the reedbed in front of us and landed on the far edge of a reedy bay where it stood for a couple of minutes looking skyward as they do - superb views in the bins but sadly we weren't able to get a pic of it for our Year Bird Challenge - wrong lens again!

Not a great lot of other birds and we didn't see or hear the Bullfinches; we did get plagued by unleashed dogs just about every time we stopped to look at something...what a right royal pain the ar*e they are there's absolutely no need to exercise an unleashed dog in the nature reserve - it's supposed to be reserved for nature not a dog toilet! It's not as if there's nowhere else locally, only a several acre field and a four mile circular walk use those instead you ignorant feckers!!!

The reason we had the wrong lens for the Bittern was because we had the right lens for getting some pics of the volunteers hedgelaying team who were pushing on now and making some inroads into the first length of hedge.

Still some big stems in the hedge requiring the expertise of M and his chainsaw

Expert hedgelayers will note some elementary mistakes but everyone is a beginner here and many of the stems aren't ideal being old and gnarly and not easy to 'pleach' neatly. Still Hawthorn is a forgiving beast and in a couple of years time all will be thick and green again and hopefully dog-proof in the spring which it isn't at the moment. To be fair it's a project we wanted to get stuck in to when we were in charge here about 15 years ago, it would still have been a little tricky then but a lot less so than now.

A lively few days for the Safari!

Where to next? A day in the garden at Base Camp tomorrow and what's likely to be a cold and windy seawatch atop Rossall Tower with the Living Seas team from the Wildlife Trust on Thursday.

In the meantime let us know who's giving the quality views in the bins in your outback.

Sandwiches on the beach

The Safari was hoping that the early morning low tides would permit a roost of Sandwich Terns providing there hadn't been too much doggy or fisherman disturbance before we got out. We took the bins and big lens to work and fortunately there was a roost well down on the beach and better still it was directly in front of us and there was no sign of any forthcoming disturbance. So that was it, the wellies went on and we set off down the steps onto the beach. To make sure we didn't disturb them and get in the best position for the pretty rubbish light - we were still on ISO Stupid - we headed off to their left well in front of them with the intention of walking back towards them slowly and stopping every few yards so that they got used to our movements. If we got a hint they were getting fidgety then we could walk back up the beach a bit away from them until they settled down, thankfully we didn't need to do that. Once as close as we dared we took a few pics

and then moved in a few more yards one step at a time

The black sticky-up things in the sand are the tops of Mason Worms whose silk and shell fragment cases get washed up by the trillion after rough weather. 

The did flush in the end but thanmkfully we weren't the culprit, a young Herring Gull had decoded to join their number but they spooked, perhaps because they'd not long since been out at sea dodging the attentions of several Arctic Skuas and the gull looked similar to those persistent thieves.

We succeeded in getting just one BiF shot off.

Yesterday morning we had an early morning wander round Patch 1 finding a couple of Sparrowhawks with perhaps more in the trees as there was a good bit of flying around going on and a lot of squawking to be heard. Also around the rough field's hedgerows were a Willow Warbler and a nearby Lesser Whitethroat while in the park proper there was a calling Goldcrest and a singing Coal Tit along with several 'tic'ing Robins, sounding very autumnal.

This morning we took Monty to the nature reserve with the hope of some pics for our Year Bird Challenge. At last we had a decent morning with good sunshine and for once this summer no wind!

Straight out of the car and through the gate we got a glimpse of the Blackcap that has been infuriatingly noisy but invisible all summer. Eventually it stopped out in the open long enough to fire of a few pics and once downloaded back at Base Camp a couple of them were even in focus. At long last after walking past this particular bird since early April we've finally got Blackcap (YBC #143) on our tally.

The rest of our walk was fairly quiet apart from an unseen Redshank (MMLNR #74) circling round before sounding like it headed off to the coast south west-wards until we got to the Elderberry bushes by the cabins where there was some activity around the not so many ripe berries. Mostly Blackbirds and Whitethroats but there were a couple of Song Thrushes too. A family of Magpies stopped briefly in the Rowan tree next door to pluck a few berries but maybe there weren't many ripe ones although they all looked the same to us as the soon moved on cackling away as they do.

More Whitethroats were seen on the way to the first hide. probably the most numerous bird of the day. A late Swift flew over with a few Swallows following in its wake a minute or so later. We kept an eye on the reedbed in case the Bittern should decide to take a flight but no such luck. Sneaking up to the viewing screen next to the hide we peered cautiously through the slats hoping the Bittern might be in the reeds fringing the pool - needless to say it wasn't but there was a Reed Warbler that deigned to show itself properly.

By now it was late enough for the charge of the dog brigade to be in full flow and it just became so frustrating as we'd see something in the scrub only for either it or us to be disturbed by a dog wandering unleashed off piste. Monty still wants to meet and greet as he's still only a pup (one year old next weekend) so trying to get him to keep still so we can focus either bins or camera on a no empty bush is hard with the constant passage of other mutts. It's a nightmare and ruins the experience of being at one with nature on a reserve. We saw a snippet of Lesser Whitethroat but were dogged off before we could raise the camera. Luckily there was another back at the Elderberry bush by the cabins - it just wouldn't show its face but another 'at laster', Lesser Whitethroat (TBC #144).

Back at Base Camp after lunch the warm sun brought out a Mint Moth, a species we've not seen here for a couple of years.

Phone pic

Monty's evening walk back to Patch 1 had us hearing the Sparrowhawks squawking again but little else until we spotted a couple of fungi on a long felled tree. No idea what they are but they're nice all the same.

All good stuff on a wildlife filled weekend and we got lots of family duties in too.
Where to next? Pond dipping and bug hunting with family centre group at work tomorrow but will we be too excited and busy to take any pics of their most interesting finds?
In the meantime let us know who's eventually given themselves up in your outback.