Day Out To Tatton Park : 3rd August 2011

Day Out To Tatton Park : 3rd August 2011

We drove out to Tatton Park, parking in the usual place at the south side of Tatton Mere. We walked through the woods which were pretty quiet although we did see a Nuthatch and a Song Thrush as well as the more familiar suspects. On the Mere were lots of Coots with their young, now pretty well developed. We had good views of a number of Great Crested Grebes also with their stripy-headed young. As usual there were quite a few Mallards and Canada Geese and some Greylag Geese as well as Mute Swans.

We walked to the end of Tatton Mere and turned left on the footpath then walked through the water meadow keeping Melchet Mere on our right. On the Mere there was a large flock of Tufted Ducks and on the meadow a couple of small birds burst out of the undergrowth looking for all the world like Whinchats but I doubt they were. At the far side of Melchet Mere we walked up to the cafe and had an expensive drink before returning on the other side of Melchet Mere where we discovered that there is a brand new hide that, by looking at the sightings book, seems like it had only been open since the beginning of the month. The sightings book had a large number of comments made by bored children. I have a feeling that it can only be a matter of time before this hide gets vandalised but perhaps I just have a dim view of the local kids.

We walked back to the car through the woods at the higher ground level hoping to see the Green Woodpecker we saw last time but with no luck. All in all it was a fairly disappointing day birding wise but it was a good long (and hot !) walk.

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