The Safari had a morning at Marton Mere nature reserve with CR. Before we'd set off we'd heard that there was a Stonechat at the wetland on the way in but a short cursory scan didn't reveal it. A quick peek under the refugium inside the reserve didn't reveal any amphibians either.
Down at the Viewing Platform the morning light was pretty aweful for looking through the waterfowl but it didn't stop us firing off a few shots at the mass of Pink Footed Geese over the far fields. The flock was so big that even down at 150mm we coouldn't fit more than a a third of the flock in the frame - we reckoned about 5000 altogether.
No Bitterns were found on the edges of the reedbed and no Otters were seen swimming through the tranquil water - again!
With the warm sunshine there were a few Red Admirals on the wing and feeding around an extensive patch of Michaelmas Daisies, close by this Comma caught C's eye.
One of the targets for the visit was recently arrived Redwings and it didn't take long to find a small group as they moved through the scrub eagerly refueling on the Hawthorn berries. Getting a pic was tricky through the foliage and they were flightly not allowing anything like a close approach. But they did give good views with the bins and we got a sort of decent pic for our Year bird Challenge (MMLNR #84, YBC #156).
Down on the embankment we were closer to the throng of geese but they were in the top field and mostly either obscured by the hedge or over the other side of the slight rise so we aren't able to show you anything like the ull extent of the flock. You'll have to believe us whe nwe tell you it was an impressive sight.
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| The 'volcano' in the distance is Parlick an Ice Age rounded hill at the southern tip of Bowland |
With little wind and warm sunshine we took the lower 'pond path' hoping to find some dragonflies enjoying the last of the season's warmth but we were out of luck. Joining the main path again we crossed the bridge where a Grey Wagtail was feeding in the stream.
Moving round to the first hide just before we got there C shouted 'Buzzard' soaring way high over the mere. Still not quite believing how common they are now compared to 25 years ago when they were a distinct rarity we had to have a look and through our bins could see it wasn't a Buzzard but our first Marton Mere Raven (MMLNR #85). It's been a long and frustrating time coming with rreports of them reaching us almost daily the couple of weeks before we went ot Scotland! It was our 188th species we've seen there and what's the betting now we've broken our duck we see them almost every other visit from now on.
At the hide we saw that a large clump of reeds had broken off the main reedbed and drifted down the lake on the wind. It seems to have come to rest on the far side of the old dyke that runs through the bed of the mere. That could become a serious management issue in the near future, unless of course a huge reedbed is what's wanted cos that's what's going to happen, it'll spread across the whole shallow side of the mere eventually joining up with the reeds growing on the side of the scrape which will probably become invisible in due course. Gonna be hard to control!
Another surprise awaited us at the Feeding Station, a Treecreeper (183, MMLNR #86, YBC #157) was on one of the close trees, almost too close to focus on. It was constantly on the move and in the shade, second guessing where it would pop up after it had been round the back was tricky but we fired a few pics off in the hope one would be OK, it sort of was.
So only a morning visit but two new species added to our challenge tally which was pretty cool seeing as that's the same as our week in Scotland where we'd hoped to add seven or eight species!
Later in the week we had family duties and once they were done we had a chance to drop in on the roadside at RSPB Marshide on the Southside for a few minutes. As we arrived a small flock of Golden Plovers flew over the road. More about them in a minute. There were a few birders scoping the marsh so we joined them to be shown a Curlew Sandpiper (184, YBC #158) among the Lapwings.
Really we'd stopped to look for the Long Billed Dowitchers but we were told only one had been present and it had just left with a small flock of Golden Plovers - arrgghh driving we couldn't have a proper look at the flock as it crosssed the road and didin't notice it in there.
Where to next? Storm Brian is rattling the windows and there's reports of good birds off the prom so hopefully there'll be some left for us if we can get out tomorrow.In the meantime let us know who's sneaking off with the crowd in your outback.
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