Day Out to Martin Mere WWT 2nd October 2011

Day Out to Martin Mere WWT 2nd October 2011

I had been looking for a new pair of binoculars and since I usually get my kit from the “In Focus” shop at Martin Mere WWT  I asked them to let me know when they had a pair of Swarovski 8.5 x 42 ELs in stock so that I could have another try of them before taking the plunge – having tried them before but being in need of further certainty before lashing out on an expensive bit of kit. So we headed up there and spent about an hour trying them out and – eventually – buying them. I needed a quick cup of tea to recover from the spending so we headed off to the new cafe for a refresher before setting off around the site. As usual, we headed down to the Ron Barker hide first.

On our way down to Ron Barker we stopped off first at the Raines hide where there were large numbers of Mallard (around 200) as well as Greylag Geese and lots of Lapwings and Coots. We then dropped into the Hale Hide where the Greylags and Mallards were joined by a fair number of Teal and Coots and three Whooper swans – perhaps the birds that did not migrate the previous year. \we also stopped at the Kingfisher Hide but, as so often, there was little to see there. At the Ron Barker hide, which always seems to be good, there were around a thousand or more Greylag Geese for once putting the 50 or so Canada Geese in their place. A couple of hundred Mallard and a similar number of Lapwings were joined by a few Shelduck and Bar-tailed Godwits and 30 or so Teal. A Cormorant and a Heron were hanging out at the edges of the water but the highlights were undoubtedly a Snipe and a Marsh Harrier. The Snipe was digging up food from the grassy bits of one of the islands and taking each morsel to the waters edge to give it a bit of a wash before swallowing it. It did this many times, each time coming out into the open sunshine where the magnificent plumage could be clearly seen and enjoyed – not often the case with Snipe who seem more fond of lurking in the grassy dips on islands. A Marsh Harrier also flew back and forth looking for some lunch and we got good views of that as well.

We then walked back along the path and down the long avenue to the Janet Keir hide where, as usual, the feeders were inundated with Wood Pigeons with Pheasant and Mallards patrolling the ground underneath to deal with any spillage from the feeders. Busy trying to avoid the bigger birds the Chaffinches outnumbered  the Great and Blue Tits and Green and Gold finches.

We then went along to the United Utilities hide looking closely for the Tawny Owl that has been seen roosting there – but to no avail. Again the Greylag Geese were present outnumbering the Canadas and there were lots of Lapwing. Mallards and Teal were in fair numbers and we also saw a few Cormorants and Pheasants. We also saw two Buzzards and a Kestrel. We did pop into the Harrier Hide but we didn’t see a great deal there so we walked back again and dropped into the Swanlink hide where We saw the first of the Pink-footed Geese of the migration – as yet in smallish numbers and certainly outnumbered by the 400 or so Greylag Geese. A sizeable number of Lapwings and some Mallards rounded off our afternoon and it was back to the cafe for another cup of tea before returning home having had anothe great day out at Martin Mere and giving my new bins their first outing !

Bird List : Raines Observatory

Bird List : Hale Hide

Bird List : Ron Barker Hide

Bird List : Janet Keir Hide

Bird List : United Utilities Hide

Bird List : Swanlink Hide