Marton mere
Tags gadwall, goldeneye, long-eared owl, reed bunting, teal
The weather, as I'm sure you all know without the need for me to say it, has been appalling.
The Met office stated that my neck of the woods would be fine on Wednesday, so I accepted an overtime shift on Monday, with the intention of going birding on Wednesday.
Fairhaven Lake in Lytham, Lancashire, had reported a juvenile Shag and 3 Red Breasted Mergansers that I thought I might catch up with.
So, in work on Monday night, I checked the weather again to find that Tuesday is now going to be fine and Wednesday torrential - bugger
This now means that if I'm to do any birding this week, I'll have to go after a 12 hour night shift 
I couldn't face the bus journey to Lytham - roughly an hour and a half, so I checked out what was happening locally at Marton Mere. There was a Goosander reported yesterday, and several Goldeneye amongst the growing population.
Decision made, I got home, changed, grabbed my camera and bins and was at the Mere by 8.30am.
I spent about 4 hours walking about and checking out the views from the hides. I have a new pair of barr & Stroud 8x42 bins that I'm very pleased with, this was my 2nd outing with them, but despite this - no sign of the Goosander
I had a great time though, chatting with other birders and being thrilled by a small flock of Raven - about 12 - does anyone know the name for a flock of Raven? I've heard it's a quorum, congress or riot. A large flock of about 30+ Teal landed on the Mere which was a spectacle to behold and I saw about 4 or 5 Goldeneye - all females. I'm sure some males were around somewhere, but they evaded me
My sightings for the morning were:
Blackbird, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Great tit, Blue tit, Wren, Collared doves, Woodpigeons, Crows, Ravens, Magpies, Lesser Black-backed gulls, Herring gulls, Black-headed gulls, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Canada geese, Mute Swans, Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye, Pochard, Teal, Gadwall, Tufted duck, Shoveler duck, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Reed Bunting (female), Robin, Long-eared Owl and a wild Rabbit.
I've put some dodgy images in the Marton Mere 2 album.
The Met office stated that my neck of the woods would be fine on Wednesday, so I accepted an overtime shift on Monday, with the intention of going birding on Wednesday.
Fairhaven Lake in Lytham, Lancashire, had reported a juvenile Shag and 3 Red Breasted Mergansers that I thought I might catch up with.
So, in work on Monday night, I checked the weather again to find that Tuesday is now going to be fine and Wednesday torrential - bugger
This now means that if I'm to do any birding this week, I'll have to go after a 12 hour night shift I couldn't face the bus journey to Lytham - roughly an hour and a half, so I checked out what was happening locally at Marton Mere. There was a Goosander reported yesterday, and several Goldeneye amongst the growing population.
Decision made, I got home, changed, grabbed my camera and bins and was at the Mere by 8.30am.
I spent about 4 hours walking about and checking out the views from the hides. I have a new pair of barr & Stroud 8x42 bins that I'm very pleased with, this was my 2nd outing with them, but despite this - no sign of the Goosander
I had a great time though, chatting with other birders and being thrilled by a small flock of Raven - about 12 - does anyone know the name for a flock of Raven? I've heard it's a quorum, congress or riot. A large flock of about 30+ Teal landed on the Mere which was a spectacle to behold and I saw about 4 or 5 Goldeneye - all females. I'm sure some males were around somewhere, but they evaded me
My sightings for the morning were:
Blackbird, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Great tit, Blue tit, Wren, Collared doves, Woodpigeons, Crows, Ravens, Magpies, Lesser Black-backed gulls, Herring gulls, Black-headed gulls, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Canada geese, Mute Swans, Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye, Pochard, Teal, Gadwall, Tufted duck, Shoveler duck, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Reed Bunting (female), Robin, Long-eared Owl and a wild Rabbit.
I've put some dodgy images in the Marton Mere 2 album.
Total Comments 1
Comments
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Good to hear about your birding day Alan.....despite the weather forecasters you saw some good birds......glad that your new bins are proving to be a good buy!
Goldeneye and L.E.Owl are nice pics in your album!
The collective noun for Raven is a Congress or Parliament.......I think I prefer a Parlaiment of Raven......very grand and well suited to them methinks!Posted 18-11-09 at 08:06 AM by Twitcheruth
