Birding Group RSPB Marshside and WWT Martin Mere 7th March 2023

There were only five of the birding group available for the trip to RSPB Marshside. The day was uncharacteristically very sunny and the wind was less than usual so that made for a less arduous trip than is often the case here. We were surprised to see a lot of the inner marsh under water so the incredibly large numbers of birds usually there were less this time and crammed into a smaller area of firm land.

We started off at the main hide (the Sandgrouser Hide) where we soon got a, year first, Kingfisher sitting on a fencepost just to the left of the hide. Over at the very back was a distant flock of Golden Plover but the views weren’t brilliant. We got very close views of some of the big numbers of Black-tailed Godwits and they often took to the air with a mixture of Starlings, swirling around a bit before settling down again. There were good numbers of the usual ducks and a few Ruff dashing around. A big group of Oystercatchers roosted on their own at the back of the marsh.

The light was a bit harsh and we decided to move on to see if we could get better views further down the marsh. Unfortunately Nel’s Hide was closed “due to vandalism” – something that seems more common in recent years, or perhaps they are repaired with more difficulty now. That left just the screen at the crossroads which is now a not really a screen but a big open space with a wooden panel behind the viewers. This allows for more people to get a view and didn’t seem to bother the birds much. However, there wasn’t much there and, after visiting the other screen further down which was the same, we walked back to the car scanning the outer marsh which seemed mainly to be full of Pink-footed Geese.

We decided that it was early enough for us to fit in a visit to WWT Martin Mere where we could warm up with a cup of tea before heading off to the hides.

We wandered down to the Ron Barker Hide which was pretty quiet except for the two Cattle Egrets (one even standing on the back of a giant bull) we got there. Working our way back down we stopped at the Kingfisher Hide where we got Reed Bunting, Blue, Black and Long-tailed Tits and good numbers of both Greenfinch and Goldfinch and a few Chaffinch, which seem much fewer in numbers in recent years.

We got the expected reasonable numbers of Whooper Swans and Wigeon, Shelduck, Shoveler, Teal, Pintail etc. at Raine’s Observatory. There was only a single Ruff looking like it was a bit lame. Down at the Discovery Hide near the entrance we added half a dozen Avocet to the list of waders and then down at the Janet Keir Hide we added a Greater Spotted Woodpecker.

In the end we had 42 species between the two locations and we added Kingfisher, Golden Plover, Ruff and Reed Bunting to our UK year list which now stands at 87 (with another 18 from Lanzarote).

Bird Sightings : Marshside RSPB 7th March 2023

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere 7th March 2023