Nearly got out east but snow had other ideas

The Safari was hoping for an adventure to a new site for us out east but snowy weather forced us into a last minute change of plan and an old stalwart Martin Mere was chosen instead. We joined CR our driver for the day and we possibly could have made it out east but as this was a recce mission to find out what's what up there better weather would have been preferable so we chose the 'safe' option. 

An hour later we were settled in the Discovery Hide scanning the multitude of waders and waterfowl spread out in front of us. There weren't many gulls on the mere, we'd just passed a massive flock on a turf field a mile down the road on the way so the were probably all there. With no chance of a Mediterranean Gull we gave the waterfowl on the lake a miss for now and concentrated on the waders on the shoreline directly in front of us where we soon found a few Ruff.

Also present were several Black Tailed Godwits now in their winter garb.

For a short moment we got side tracked by the waterfowl, especially this Pintail which we couldn't resist.

But we soon returned to watching the waders strut their long legged stuff.

The Ruff were still about too.

A lovely Lapwing joined the fray.

Wouldja look at those colours, fantastic. 

Now it was time for a mooch around the rest of the reserve, we opted to hit the feeders cos we expected them to be busy seeing as it was cold with some snow on the ground.

The first birds we saw on the feeders were a couple of Goldfinches but we soon ignored all the other small birds and the Brown Rats (of which there were several youngsters) and Grey Squirrels when a couple of very shy Jays appeared in the trees in the far left hand corner. Talk about shy, the closer they got to the food the more easily spooked they became, the slightest repositioning of our cameras had them shooting off well out of sight which them gave us another ten minutes wait. Not the easiest thing to get a pic of!

With any movement from us spotted by our quarry we kept as still as possible continuing to ignore the more common birds on offer. Eventually our patience was rewarded when one of the Jays came down and even landed briefly on the hanging peanut feeder - now that would have been the shot...we're not sure if CR got one but we certainly didn't. From there it bounced around the tree for a couple of minutes in their inimical way before landing on the table to scoff down a crop ful of peanuts.

Job done we pushed on to the 'new' hides, the first one only had very distant lapwings on offer so we took the high track overlooking the reedbed in hope of a Bittern popping out on our way to the Gordon Taylor Hide, no Bittern for us - again.

Once sat down and comfy we scanned around to see what we could see. Not much close by again but as doesn't happen often for us here we had a really close approach from a Marsh Harrier. For some reason, battery running down?, our camera wouldn't lock on to it until it had turned around and was going away from us - how annoying.

This one was a female, a young male flew by a little later.

Agter the raptor-fest was over we turned our attention to the small number of Teal loafing a few yards in front of us. The very light wind had two benefits the first with it being a rather cold day there was no wind chill and the other was the lack of water movement so there were reflections to work with.

As usual for us here our butties were in the boot of the car which meant going back to get them, which meant calling in at the feeders again to see if the Jays were still about. They were but only very briefly and hidden in the back of the trees so we had some time to spend with the small birds. Chaffinches were the most plentiful species on show.

A male had very manky feet, they look really awful - we felt for it.

Blue Tits came and went with their usual feeders monotonous regularity.

And a Great Spotted Woodpecker was almost as shy as the Jays, or maybe even more so as it didn't come onto the table or the hanging feeders.

Before we got to our butties CR spotted a thrush sat atop one of the car park trees but against the light it wasn't revealing itself to the naked eye. Fiddling with the camera settings proved it to be a Mistle Thrush, not a Fieldfare we were hoping for, and we're yet to come across a Redwing on our safaris.

Lunch was taken at the Ron Barker Hide where our butties took precident over any birds that might have been about. Fortunately we just about finished our last mouthful when a shout of "Kingfisher's here!" came booming round the corner. We've been seeing lots of Kingfisher pics from here on social media we were glad to get an opportunity to get some pics of our own even if the light was a bit hazy.

Like every one else we filled our boots and SD card.

It even did us the favour of catching some 3-spined Sticklebacks.

And moved around the small pond offering some different background effects.

Nothing lasts for ever and after a few fish it disappeared to go and digest them somewhere quiet. For us it was back to our lunch spot to see what might be about. There were no cattle feeding on the marsh only the bull and his four bullock friends in his field. At first no Cattle Egrets could be seen but then one hopped up onto the bull.

Nearer, on the gate into the field a Magpie came looking for any food that sometimes gets put in the rotting top of the gate post.

More Marsh Harrier action ensued. Again we mostly got them going away - dohhhh.

It did swing round and come closer and dropped down onto the ground.

Watching it over several minutes we eventually saw it pull at something grey on the floor, the remains of an unfortunate Pink Footed Goose.which you can't see as it's hidden behind the tall tussocks of Soft Rush.

The Wigeon weren't overly happy with its presence but when the took to the air it looked around.

Another female was coming her way

Was there going to be an argument over the carcass? No, the incomer flew over the top with barely a downward glance and continued on its way. While enjoying the Marsh Harrier action the Kingfisher cry went up again so back round the corner we went.

And again we filled our boots trying slightly different angles and background patterns.

Again it caught some fish for us.

"How do you like your fish, sir?" "Well battered please"

Apparently the battering isn't to kill or stun the fish but to mash up its insides a bit to make it easier, or quicker, to digest.

After several fish it perched up for ages at the back of the pool digesting its lunch, or was it afternoon tea, before shooting off round to the other part of the pool and out of view.

You may recall that on a recent safari young LH had provided us with a bit of a video clip and she'd inadvertently inspired us to find out how to do video on our camera, not last ewwek but right now here in the hide. We gave it a go but as you can see we need a bit of practice and hand holding a big lens makes for a shaky video...but here goes - what do you think?

Once the Kingfisher had flown off we headed back down the trail. There was still a bit of time before the wildfowl feed so we hit the feeders again where straight away we hit the Great Spotted Woodpecker.

A Reed Bunting was also on one of the hanging feeders, something you don't see everyday.

Only too soon we were on our way again back to the Discovery Hide to witness the mayhem that is the wildfowl feed. One of the birders already there kindly pointed out the sleeping Snow Goose on the far bank.

As the feeding frenzy developed we took to getting pics of the waders again.

It seems a bit bonkers to watch waders chowing down on wheat seeds.

This Black Tailed Godwit with a horrific looking leg injury has been coming back here for a few years now so that injury isn't causing it too much bother.

The Ruff were still about too.

CR spotted a bonny male still sporting some summer plumage.

And eating those freeby wheat grains.

We took some video here too.

And of course took some Ducky mayhem video.

One thing we have learned about the video game is that Blogger can't load anything bigger than 100MB so if we go for some more in future they'll only be short...you'd probably prefer that given the quality we're currently producing. There's a slight chance we'll improve with practice and time - or we'll give it up as a bad job.

Where to next? We've still got that sussing out safari out east to do, fingers crossed there's soem decent weather for it soon.

In the meantime let us know what are the best 'free' programs for editing video - we have used Movie Maker in the past and it was more than adequate for our needs but there's probably a new improved version now - any suggestions anyone.