Another safari to the Southside

The Safari picked up CR but with IH and AB both out of commission this week we had no definite plan of a venue. South seemed a better option than north and with several Challenge potential species on offer west was chosen in favour of east. 

Our first port of call was the small but perfectly formed Longton Brickcroft reserve, a site we really enjoyed working at back in the day when we were very very much younger. Over the last week or so there had been reports of a Scaup there but there had been no news for a few days. Our hunch was that most local birders had seen it so it was likely still about but not being reported so we took a punt that it would still be there. We hit the south lake first walking round anti-clockwise (here's a thing  - if clocks/watches had been invented in the southern hemisphere they'd go the other way round cos the motion we're so familiar with was 'copied' from sundials and the shadow on a sundial in the southern hemisphere moves the opposite way round.) At first glance there wasn't much on the water and not a lot in the trees and bushes apart from a couple of Robins. It wasn't until we almost got to the far end that we saw more than a couple of Mallards. A small flotilla of Tufted Ducks kept diving but after checking through them thoroughly as each one surfaced we couldn't see anything Scaup-like other than a couple of females with a bit of a white blaze around their bills; maybe it had left after all. Continuing round we eventually came to a view point which overlooked the northern end of the lake where the kids feed the ducks and there lurking waiting for handouts with the Mallards and Coots was the Scaup. (#168).

We went and stood on one of the fushing platforms at that end and had really good views of our quarry.

It was unphased by our close proximity and felt every bit as 'tame' as those we'd seen at pointblank range at the large lake in the middle of Reykjavik this time last year. A llok at the pools across the little lane were next on the agenda. Nothing much on the reedy pond and strangly the large northern lake was almost devoid of birds, there being just a small group of Mallards on offer on the water. However in the trees bordering the left hand side was a Heron v Little Egret preen-off going on.

1 : 1 for starters, IH would have been happy with that had he been able to join us, happier with 1 : 0 to Herons but that's by the by. Any joy he might have felt would have been short lived with the other two sites we planned to visit both holding lots and lots of egrets - a (literally) whitewash was on the cards.
Leaving the Brickcroft we headed for the coast and RSPB's Marshside reserve. Here a Long Tailed Duck had been seen the previous day on one of the pools on the saltmarsh which we scanned from the steering wheel as we drove past but none of them had anything floating on them. The plan was to go to the visitor centre and find out any news. We stopped firdt at the Junction Screen and saw thousands of Black Tailed Godwits and not much else in any numbers but there was another Challenge taget bird way down at Nel's Hide we'de save for later. On opening the door to the visitor centre our friends from the cruise we'd met last week at Martin Mere were out again and already watching the Long Tailed Duck just a few feet in front of them. Very nice to meet you again and thanks for the duck! #169.

It was diving very actively and we got lots of shots of just water and a few like this one.

Apparently it had been right under the windows of the hide but as we sat down it drifted further and further away, we're 'lucky' like that!

A bit of patience and a bit of scanning the marsh later it came a bit closer.

Scanning the marsh with a borrowed scope proved fruitful as we were able to discern that the white dot miles away on the far side of the reserve was indeed the long staying Snow Goose we'd missed by minutes last week, a drive away but accessible and put on the back burner for now. Time to wander down to Nel's Hide and the 'mystery' bird for our Challenge. But as we turned to leave our friends called us back as the Long Tailed Duck had come right close again. Back we turned for some fabulous views.

Before heading off to Nel's Hide we had a quick look from the old sandplant across the road but no raptors could be found quartering the saltmarsh. Earlier we'd caught a glimpse of a distant Marsh Harrier but now all that was on offer were some Skylarks and both Little and Great White Egrets. We could have doen with a flyby Merlin or Hen Harrier for our Challenge. 

At Nel's Hide the pool in front of us only held a single Shoveler but it was the exotic beast to our right we were most interested in. A Black Swan, one of the small but increasing population of feral breeders that now inhabot this part of the world. With climate change will they become the new Mute Swan? Although they are well used to cold in their native Australia as the last one's we photographed were on a bitterly cold, only just above freezing, morning at Lake Muir in the far SW of Aus 12 years ago.

#170 and one that certainly wasn't on our Challenge radar! Nothing else was really near enough or in good enough light to hold our interest so we moved quickly on to the far side and that Snow Goose before it does another bunk on us. Parking up we went through the gate onto the seawall and walked left for the first time ever. We could see the white dot in the distance

and a few hundred yards walking came up to the Snow Goose only to find it wasn't quite as close to us as it appeared it would have been from the far side, still it was well over half way from there and much closer to here even if it wasn't particularly near. (#171)

Good to get it on our tally especially after dipping it last week and it put us back in the lead of the Challenge...well technically it's only a challenge and not a competition but we have been in front all year until the last couple of weeks when we got overtaken by Jen in Calgary, Alberta...the cheek of it!

Our friends had told us of numbers of Curlews and a big flock of Golden Plovers over this side too. We saw several Curlews and when we eventually found the flock of Golden Plovers it was impressive.

They seem to have abandoned the traditional fields we used to watch them in when we were a nipper where IH rarely, if ever, sees them nowadays and all congregate here now.

These two pics only cover about a fifth of the flock. They look good on the ground but even better, we think, in flight after something unseen had spooked them.

Our walk along the seawall was accompanied by the beautiful whistles of the Wigeon. The ones close to the path were very skittish, taking flight when we were still well off from them. Hopefully they'll grow used to people walking this track and settle down to give great views in the coming months.

By now the morning was drawing to a close and butties beckoned, we drove the few miles to Martin Mere to devour our pastry encased snacks and sandwiches in the Discovery Hide there. And what a lunch it was not only tasty but our arrival was a few minutes before a truly great wildlife spectacle of about 8000 Pink Footed Geese (8000 is what the wardens had written on the sightings board, we hadn't counted them!)

What a sight and what a sound as skein after skein came in, swirled around and landed in the reserve's pastures.

If we were more on the ball we should have shot some video to give you a better idea of what it was like, awesome is a word use far to often but that's what it was today - beyond impressive, beyond magnificent even...Truly an 'Attenborough moment'.

Once the geese had settled down we took a look at the lake in particular scanning through the gulls. We'd already easily spotted Moorhen and Coot so it was great to get 'our set of favourites' with an adult Mediterranean Gull...thta's better than we did at Spurn when we couldn't find a Coot all the time we were there although there were double figures of Mediterranean Gulls each day which is way better thanjust one. But one's enough!

There were more Whooper Swans than our last visit, as expected with autumn migration in full swing now. They always look so regal.

We can never resist the vermiculations on a well-lit drake Pochard either

Nor the subtle beauty of a female Pintail either.

From there we took a wander up to the Ron Barker Hide where there was no Kingfisher action and little Cattle Egret action but yet more Pink Footed Geese now sitting calmly on the water.

The trouble with having 500 pairs of eyes looking for danger is that someone somewhere is going to think they saw something and sure enough one of them did and they began to take to the air in large groups.

Another noisy spectacle to enjoy. With little else close by to maintain our interest we decided to have a look at the other end of the reserve and leaving the hide spotted some gorgeous autumn colour on a Norway Maple, a totally different but no less impressive spectacle than the geese.

A quick peek in the Feeding Station gave us no birds just a couple of Brown Rats, always popular chararcters here...well they are with us, maybe not so much with the management.

We continued on our way towards the 'new' Rees Hide stopping for a look at the Pink Footed Geese from the impromptu vantage point close to the hopefully to be refurbished UU Hide. This vantage point is much lower than the hide so when the geese have their heads down as this time it's very tricky to pick out anything unusual among the masses. moving on we passed a trio of birders looking at one of their phones, looking over their shoulders (Rude!) we just happened to glance at the phone and saw it showed a pic of a Great Grey Shrike, "Where's that we asked" not expecting it to be anywhere too close..."Up there at the Gordon Taylor Hide" was the response. "When?"..."A few minutes ago!" And off we all went scanning every conceivable twig in every bush and every fence post as we went. Other birders coming from that way told us it hadn't been seen for a while so the hunt was on. With several birders now searching the trees and bushes in all directions it wouldn't be too long before it was relocated and we hoped it would be us that did so. Unfortunately the negative news continued and folk began to disperse a bit searching further afield. We wandered up the track to the Tomlinson Hide still checking every fence post, bare branch, bush and tree but found nothing, not even a Stonechat, where had they gone? CR opened the door to the hide and as he was sitting down disturbed a Kingfisher from right outside the window which darted around a reedy bay to our right. We were now looking back towards the Gordon Taylor Hide so scrutinised every leaf and fence post between here and there methodically but to no avail. Our only bonus was that the Kingfisher did reappear but it didn't retake its earlier perch, flying across the mere to the far side and disappearing instead, still great to see it they're always a joy. 

We'd spent that long scouring the reserve for any sign of the Great Grey Shrike that time had crept up on us and it getting towards time to leave. A slow walk back towards the car only gave us brief views of one of the family of Kestrels that frequent this part of the reserve. Some of the Pink Footed Geese started to disperse back to their feeding grounds on the surrounding farmland

And a lone juvenile Whooper Swan, where were ma n da?, flew in to take advantage of the daily late afternoon feed provided by the reserve.

A grand day out on safari.

 

The later that evening this appeared on our phone

What a great find, shame it didn't stick around - we're sure we checked that bush too! And on a different Facebook site we learned we'd missed a Merlin sat on the mud at the water's edge opposite the hide. We could have done with getting pics of those two as at the time of writing Jen has done another 'photo-dump' and retaken the lead by one! How very dare she!!!

Where to next? It looks like our next safari is taking us south east.

In the meantime let us know who's lurking furtively in bushes in your outback.