Birding Group Visit to Marshside and Mere Sands Woods : 18th March 2014

Birding Group Visit to Marshside and Mere Sands Woods : 18th March 2014

The birding group visit to Marshside was hopefully going to be a chance to get a year-tick on the first winter drake Long-tailed Duck although I am pretty sure that the Ross’s Goose has already gone. Additionally, it is usually a good time to see Golden Plover at Marshide.

On both counts we were lucky. We parked up and walked down to the Sandgrousers Hide whilst the rest of our group arrived and we had a chance to get the lay of the land there. There were huge numbers of Black-headed Gulls but also very widely distributed bunches of Black-tailed Godwit, by now starting to get into their brick-red spring plumage.
There were Shoveler and Shelduck and a Little Egret. At the back were a group of Cormorants and on the marsh there were large numbers of Wigeon. On the island to the right of the hide was a fair sized group of Avocets.
A break in the rain prompted us to walk down to Nel’s hide and when we got there there were already a couple of photographers snapping away at the Long-tailed Duck. We watched it for a long time and it eventually came out of the deep water and came closer to the hide, preening amongst the stand of reeds rising out of the water. There was a group of Pintails and this Provided us with a really good chance to compare the size of the two species – the Long-tailed Duck looked much smaller in comparison.
Also present were good numbers of Teal and a;ll the other ducks we had seen at the Sandgrousers Hide. As we sat there a group of Pink-footed Geese flew in and landed on the water and we were surprised that this was the first time several of us had actually seen Pinkies on water rather than in fields or flying !
We returned to the Sandgrousers Hide for a last look before moving on and this time, right at the back near the houses across the marsh we could see a flock of Golden Plovers some of which were already getting their black frontal feathers. On one of the islands at the front of the hide a Barnacle Goose flew in and we were treated to a pair of Little Grebes “laughing” loudly before disappearing into the reeds. There were a few Great Black-backed Gulls and more Herring Gulls around – a predatory species around the marshes. One of the reception staff said they had seen one of the former eating a Pintail recently.
Eventually we dragged ourselves away and we headed off to Southport Marine Lake to see if we could spot the Slavonian Grebe that has been lurking on the lake. We parked in the car park of the Southport Theatre and Convention centre , which is a good central viewpoint for bird-watching, and although some of the group got a brief glimpse of the bird, others – including me – did not. It had apparently disappeared around the far side of the islands and even though we drove over there and parked at the boat club, we still could not connect with it so we gave up and headed for Mere Sands Woods.
I have to say that Mere Sands Woods is not my most successful place for bird watching and I am a bit tired of being told that I have just missed a Water Rail so, this time , when one of the group came out of the reception hide and called us to come and look at the Water Rail, I was sure it would have gone by the time we got there. Amazingly I was proven wrong and just as we entered the hide it rushed out of the reeds and walked quickly down the rivulet to the left of the hide before disappearing again. On the water were a few Goldeneye, Tufted Ducks and a pair of Gadwall. On the island there was a Shelduck and at the water’s edge a Great Crested Grebe looked to be nesting.
That was pretty much the highlight and a brief walk in the woods didn’t provide anything of interest. Back at the feeders there was a female Bullfinch and some Reed Buntings.
So a pretty good day all in all and despite the rain slashing down all the way to Marshside, it wasn’t that bad when we got out of the cars and held off until we got home. There was, of course, the usual Marshside gale blowing, though !

Bird Sightings : Marshside

Bird Sightings : Mere Sands Woods