Day Out To WWT Martin Mere : 6th June 2011
A good day out at Martin Mere. We started off by going straight down to hide H3 – the Ron Barker Hide where we saw a lot of the usual suspects. Particular birds of interest we saw were a single Whooper Swan. This was a lame bird who had not managed to migrate to Iceland with the other Whoopers in Spring. We spoke to the chap at the “In Focus” shop and he said that it had sustained an injury to one of its wings and was quite badly damaged but the rangers had decided not to kill it since it didn’t seem to be in pain and eventually it had managed to recover reasonably well. It wasn’t clear whether it was able to fly further than a short distance and as this is a first year bird it is not obvious either whether it will be able to migrate with the others when they again leave next spring.
We also saw an Eider and a couple of Shovelers, a Little Ringed Plover and a flock of about 50 Black-tailed Godwit all looking rather splendid. A particular treat were the Avocets. We saw about four of these and there were an equal number of fledglings in the shallows feeding themselves. Over the water flew large numbers of Swifts and Swallows. There are always lots of Swallows there during the breeding season and you can usually see quite a few nests around the building structures. We also saw a Reed Bunting or two.
On the way back we looked in at the other hides but we didn’t really see anything new. On the way back up to the visitor centre we saw large numbers of Tree Sparrows. The Tree Sparrows are by far the most frequent at H1 – The Raines Observatory. There is a feeder table here opposite the toilets that they can be easily seen at. We stopped for a cup of tea before heading down to the Harrier Hide that overlooks the Pat Wisniewski reed bed but we didn’t see anything new there. However when we turned back we stopped at hide H7 – the Janet Kear Hide where there are feeders and these were full of passerines. There were, of course, the usual Woodppigeons all over the place but we also saw a couple of Greenfinch, Goldfinches, Chaffinches but best of all was a family of Wrens that were feeding on the trees just behind the feeders. It was hard to count exactly how many there were but it was at least one parent feeding at least 3 fledglings but it could have been more because they were buzzing all over the place.
We came back down the main avenue and stopped at the Swanlink Hide but the mere was almost completely dominated by Shelduck with a few Coot and Lapwing. We then went on a very entertaining “Canoe Safari”. This is a new family attraction ; you can hire a canoe for an hour and this takes three adults or two adults and 2 children. The water is very shallow and not really that wide but it was reasonably quiet when we went so it was possible to paddle around without running into too many people. It was a lot of fun and might eventually turn into an interesting way to see birds in and around the water – they certainly seem to be quite tolerant of people if they are on the water. As yet, however, it is not very well developed and needs much more growth before it reaches it aim.
A great day out and we clocked up some interesting birds.
Bird List
- Avocet 8
- Blackbird 4
- Black-headed Gull 10
- Black-tailed Godwit 50
- Blue Tit 1
- Buzzard 1
- Canada Goose 12
- Chaffinch 1
- Coot 8
- Cormorant 2
- Dunnock 1
- Eider 1
- Goldfinch 2
- Great Tit 1
- Greenfinch 2
- House Sparrow 1
- Lapwing 10
- Little Ringed Plover 1
- Magpie 1
- Mallard 50
- Moorhen 10
- Oystercatcher 8
- Pheasant 1
- Pied Wagtail 1
- Red-legged Partridge 1
- Redshank 1
- Reed Bunting 3
- Robin 1
- Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon 4
- Shelduck 50
- Shoveler 2
- Starling 1
- Swift 20
- Tree Sparrow 10
- Swallow 10
- Whooper Swan 1
- Woodpigeon 4
- Wren 4