With Reeces school closed because of the weather and me not in work due to my 3.30am return from Ireland we decided to put the day to good use. First stop was Martin Mere but not the Ron Barker hide, when we eventually headed down there all we saw was 15 Lapwing.
We started in the warmth of the Raines hide were several hundered Whooper were on view though no sign of a Bewicks. Also seen were Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Shellduck, Coot, Greylag, Pinkfooted, Blackbird and Ruff. The Swanlink hide we added a Black-headed and Herring Gull plus the white Ruff we've seen on our last few visits.
THE WHITE RUFF THAT FREQUENTS MARTIN MERE
The feeder hide added Reed Bunting, Chaffinch, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Tree Sparrow, Blue & Great Tit, Greenfinch and Robin.
ABOVE GREENFINCH BELOW MALE REED BUNTING
The walk between the hides brought Fieldfare and Redwing though we missed the Brambling that was reported at the feeders in front of the Infocus shop. The final stop was the hen Harrier Hide somewhere we haven't had much luck from in the past but with the sun shining through the glass it was quite warm so we stayed for a good look around. We were rewarded with 2 Water Rail showing very well also a Little Egret and a Meadow Pipit as we left. Amongst the already noted we spotted Tufted Duck and Pochard.
ABOVE MEADOW PIPIT BELOW WATER RAIL
After seeing our first Short-eared Owl on new years day we added two more sightings on our Marshside visit as well as 2 Merlin. Waders were scarce but not a suprise with all the ice around though we did manage the odd Curlew, Lapwing, Snipe and Black-tailed Godwit. In the distance we saw large flocks of both Teal, Wigeon and Shellduck as well as Pinkfooted Geese scattered across the marsh. Gulls included Greater Black Backed, Herring, Common and Black Headed.
1 comment:
That Ruff looks very odd.
I'm a Prestonian exiled in Japan, I enjoyed reading your blog. Keep it up!
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