Marton Mere 12
Tags marton mere, pink footed geese
I had a good 4 hour roam around my local patch this afternoon with overcast skies and poor light, but at least no rain and little wind and it is still relatively mild.
I'm a creature of habit and always enter the mere from the Lawson road end and then turn right, to make the feeder station hide my first stop.
It was much busier here than on my last visit. The usual tits and finches were in good numbers as were the regular pheasants, a rabbit and an acrobatic grey squirrel that hung upside down from a branch to get at the nuts in one of the feeders.
Moving along the ''holiday park side'' of the mere soon revealed massess of Canada geese, the water was full of them. I was later told that there were 5000 in the east fields the day before.
I visited all the hides to the eastern end of the lake (there are 3) and had fairly good views of Gadwall, Teal, Pochard and all of the usual waterbirds.
From the dyke I scanned the neighbouring fields and came upon some geese two fields away. There were at least 1,500 but quite possibly a lot more. I struggled to id them and made some notes for when I got home. I wrote in my field book; ''possibly pink-footed geese'' and so was a little concieted when another birder passed by and said ''ave ya sin tha pinkies in yonder field?''
I exited the mere at the north end after coming off the dyke and walked along the bridal path to the place where the LEO's roost - none to be had! A bit early in my opinion, although one was reported on the Fylde Bird Club web site about 10 days ago.
Retraced my steps and went down the north end of the mere, through the apple trees whose scent filled the air and made me want a cider! I spent some time in the container hide (it's made from one of those big metal storage containers you see stacked up on ships) and had better views from here of the Pochard and Teal and spotted a group of distant Shovelors.
On the path from this hide was a flock of around 30 Long-tailed tits that were flitting between branches and from tree to tree. I got quite close views and they didn't seem bothered by me at all.
I'm fairly sure a Snipe fly by me, but it landed in front of the reeds and never reappeared!! A couple of Grey Heron's made fly overs and a Kestrel was hunting over the scrub.
I made my way home, just as it began to spit with rain!
My sightings for the day were:
Magpie
Crow
Woodpigeon
Dunnock
Robin
Coal tit
Blue tit
Great tit
Pheasant (all female)
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
Canada Geese
Mute Swan
Mallard
Coot
Moorhen
Gadwall
Teal
Pochard
Black-headed gulls
Herring gulls
Shoveler ducks
Grey Herons
Pink-footed Geese
Blackbirds (No Fieldfares or Redwings yet)
Kestrel
Long-tailed tit
Starling
Snipe?????
I'm a creature of habit and always enter the mere from the Lawson road end and then turn right, to make the feeder station hide my first stop.
It was much busier here than on my last visit. The usual tits and finches were in good numbers as were the regular pheasants, a rabbit and an acrobatic grey squirrel that hung upside down from a branch to get at the nuts in one of the feeders.
Moving along the ''holiday park side'' of the mere soon revealed massess of Canada geese, the water was full of them. I was later told that there were 5000 in the east fields the day before.
I visited all the hides to the eastern end of the lake (there are 3) and had fairly good views of Gadwall, Teal, Pochard and all of the usual waterbirds.
From the dyke I scanned the neighbouring fields and came upon some geese two fields away. There were at least 1,500 but quite possibly a lot more. I struggled to id them and made some notes for when I got home. I wrote in my field book; ''possibly pink-footed geese'' and so was a little concieted when another birder passed by and said ''ave ya sin tha pinkies in yonder field?''
I exited the mere at the north end after coming off the dyke and walked along the bridal path to the place where the LEO's roost - none to be had! A bit early in my opinion, although one was reported on the Fylde Bird Club web site about 10 days ago.
Retraced my steps and went down the north end of the mere, through the apple trees whose scent filled the air and made me want a cider! I spent some time in the container hide (it's made from one of those big metal storage containers you see stacked up on ships) and had better views from here of the Pochard and Teal and spotted a group of distant Shovelors.
On the path from this hide was a flock of around 30 Long-tailed tits that were flitting between branches and from tree to tree. I got quite close views and they didn't seem bothered by me at all.
I'm fairly sure a Snipe fly by me, but it landed in front of the reeds and never reappeared!! A couple of Grey Heron's made fly overs and a Kestrel was hunting over the scrub.
I made my way home, just as it began to spit with rain!
My sightings for the day were:
Magpie
Crow
Woodpigeon
Dunnock
Robin
Coal tit
Blue tit
Great tit
Pheasant (all female)
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
Canada Geese
Mute Swan
Mallard
Coot
Moorhen
Gadwall
Teal
Pochard
Black-headed gulls
Herring gulls
Shoveler ducks
Grey Herons
Pink-footed Geese
Blackbirds (No Fieldfares or Redwings yet)
Kestrel
Long-tailed tit
Starling
Snipe?????
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Nice that the rain waited till you were home foir a change Alan! Those Pinkies must have been a grand sight!
Super pics especially the acrobatic Squirrel and the Tower view!Posted 05-11-11 at 03:17 PM by Twitcheruth
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Thanks Ruth,
Yes, what's going on? I'm usually drenched on my birding trips!!
The pinkies were a great sight when they all took to the air, but too far off to be anything other than blobs on the ground otherwise. My scope did it's best, hence my tentative initial ID, but I think it's time to start saving for a better one!Posted 06-11-11 at 02:28 PM by alanjns 
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What a brill day enjoyed Alan! Love the read, I felt I was walking along with you...wish I had have been especially seeing all those Pinkfeet!
Glad you stayed dry!Posted 07-11-11 at 07:33 PM by Little Sparrow
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Thanks for commenting Judith - I wandered who it was whispering in my ear! Lol (psyche nurse joke!!)Posted 08-11-11 at 07:56 AM by alanjns
