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BACK TO THE MANCHESTER BIRDING WEBSITE HOMEPAGE -> Manchester Birding Forum -> Lancashire and Merseyside -> MARTIN MERE WWT
Post Info TOPIC: MARTIN MERE WWT
Gary Gorner


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RE: martin mere /marshside
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24-1-2010

Thanks to Graham Clarkson one of Marshsides finest for pointing me and the mrs in the right direction. we spent the morning at the top end of crossens watching a bittern,2 short eared owls,1 male hen harrier,1 merlin and a couple of kestrel .int winter birdin greatbiggrin.gif Also sevral heron and at least 4 little egret.The highlight for me though was a single skylark up in the air singing like it was a summers day biggrin.gif

stopped off at the mere but nothing out of the ordinary here lots of lapwings,ruff,teal,wigeon n whoopers

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Dennis atherton


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yes great shots of kestrel, some good photos on your flickr page, nice to meet you too smile.gif


pity about the fog today but still a good day biggrin.gif



-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Saturday 23rd of January 2010 09:37:46 PM

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Frank Whitney


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Think i met you today too Dennis, the picture of the Kestrel turned out ok

-- Edited by sleipnerofasgard on Saturday 23rd of January 2010 09:20:11 PM

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Dennis atherton


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martin mere in the morning,

usual thousands of pink feet with about ten barnacles and a red breasted goose, great spotted woodpecker hanging around, hundreds of black tailed godwits, about ten ruff, no harriers today, recent sightings of bewicks swans but not by me, all the usuals. loads of whooper swans, teal, widgeon, pintails, shelduck, gadwall, loads of bird to watch butnot too much of note today, water now defrosed totally, three buizzards and a sparrowhawk too


Marshside in the afternoon,

defrosted waters now, very foggy today, a vicious great black backed got a moorhen for lunch today, a few little egrets knocking around, snipe, quick passing merlin brought up all the widgeon and godwits, furthur down nearer to crossens two short eared owls and close up veiws of kestrel,

Nice to meet Les today at martin mere biggrin.gif

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Dennis atherton


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we can all sleep tonight,

Salt-water, Salt-water, Salt-water, say it three times and make a wish biggrin.gif

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Ian Woosey


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Ian McKerchar wrote:

Many thanks to Ian Woosey:

salt-water wink.gif




I wasn`t helping you to figure out the word.........I was just calling you one biggrin.gif

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Ian McKerchar


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Many thanks to Ian Woosey:

salt-water

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Ian McKerchar


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I am still mystified as to what the word is as I'm rubbish as crosswords and the likes but the mystery as to why is has been ommitted from the post is simple. The forum has a built in profanity filter which has automatically recognised a set of letters as a possible profanity and so deleted them out. As the forum is hosted by a Canadian company (they offered me the best all-round package ) it may well be a word, or indeed a 'word within a word' we have no concept of?

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 17th of January 2010 11:21:34 AM

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Sean Sweeney


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No idea what happened there. Maybe the mention of H2O types not found in the Manchester area is forbidden!

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Dennis atherton


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i am still confused, i think i know what it means but i dont want to type it in here in case theres a reason, not sure why all the mystery?

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Rob Smallwood


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OK - it took me about two minutes to work out "sal****er" - and what word the website didn't like! disbelief.gif

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Sean Sweeney


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Popped over to Marshside for the high tide today, lots of action as ever and no rain which was a surprise, as it was pelting it down when I left Manchester in early morning! I had a wander round a few new sites I had not visited in the general Ribble area too, with Hesketh Bank (new RSPB reserve) looking very promising.

Marshside

Merlin 3
Peregrine 2
Kestrel 3
Short-eared Owl 3 (at dusk on my way home)
Black-tailed Godwit 300+
Lapwing 1000s
Oystercatcher 1000+
Grey Plover 25
Knot 1000s
Redshank 200+
Little Egret 6
Wigeon 1000s
Pintail 400+
Teal 1000s
PF Goose 1000s
Skylark 600+

Farm Fields near Crossens
Red-legged Partridge 12
Corn Bunting 16

Hesketh Bank RSPB
This newly opened RSPB reserve looks very promising. It has allowed sal****er back onto farm land and banked up the area surrounding it, to allow for what I imagine will be a lovely saltmarsh, complete with gullies etc suitable for Redshank breeding in summer etc. The wandering Great White Egret was there a week back, Male Hen Harrier has been seen in the last couple of days and Short-eared and Barn Owls are present in early morning/dusk time. Whoopers are sometimes on the reserve, or can be scoped in the distance feeding in fields. I think it a "watch this space" reserve, reminding me a lot of Inner Marsh Farm when that was first created when I was younger (although that is a freshwater haven in a tidal area).

Whooper Swan 50
Wigeon 300
Teal 200
Shelduck 50
Redshank 30
Curlew 20
Stock Dove 6

Stopped at a few others places including a cracking bakery in Longton biggrin.gif You can't beat a good pie!

PS. Those of you who may be on Facebook there is a group called "RSPB Ribble Estuary Nature Reserves" that has info updated by locals/regular visitors and a lovely photo gallery on there too, some cracking shots of SE Owls and the like!?


-- Edited by Sean Sweeney on Saturday 16th of January 2010 09:44:51 PM

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Dennis atherton


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ps




ps i like the new redshank photo, nice photo, very red legs

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Dennis atherton


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it was me...........
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Jonathan Platt wrote:

You left too early Dennis - I saw you getting in your car, parked in the gateway by Crossens Marsh? I walked down from the sandplant car park and had a short-eared owl about ten minutes after you left! I only stopped for 30mins or so, max number I saw was three. Also two merlins, a peregrine and half a dozen barncale geese with the pinks. You're right about the skylarks, I've never seen so many on the saltmarsh.





Hi John

Yes that was me parked there, i knew it was coming to roosting time and i should of stayed longer, the cold had really got to me by then, four hours in that cold wind coming inland felt like mild hypothermia, my toes and fingers were numb, i had a bad feeling i would miss out on what was coming back in to roost, my toes are still cold smile.gif

the skylarks were a sight, so many, must be hungry by now

best wishes
Dennis



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Jonathan Platt


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You left too early Dennis - I saw you getting in your car, parked in the gateway by Crossens Marsh? I walked down from the sandplant car park and had a short-eared owl about ten minutes after you left! I only stopped for 30mins or so, max number I saw was three. Also two merlins, a peregrine and half a dozen barncale geese with the pinks. You're right about the skylarks, I've never seen so many on the saltmarsh.

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Dennis atherton


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marshside today, 11 till 2.30 fields full of pink feet, sightings of a single barnacle and dark bellied brent geese though not by myself, hundreds of wigeon in fields, walking down the road away from southport over the marsh on the left side was good views of merlin, kestrels, peregrine and male and female hen harriers, loads of skylark, the most i have ever seen with a few twite mixed in, also stonechat, feildfare and reed buntings, no short eared owls today, best site of the day was a lovely male hen harrier

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Gary Gorner


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mm kingfisher,300 lapwing and buzzard from united utils hide.
3 great spotted woodpecker,2 redwing and 1 fieldfare near the nature trail obs hide.
2 raven from the ron baker hide.
no sign of the peregrines today but the barnicale geese were in with the pink feet.

marshside 2 peregrine,1 male hen harrier,3 short eared owls,2 kestrel ,3 heron and 2 little egret on the outer marsh but all showing quite close to the road biggrin.gif
from nels a flock of appx 10 barnacles with 1 morph snow goose and 1 brent goose amongst them.

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Gary Gorner


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28.12.09
mm from jk hide
8 reed buntings
15 goldfinch
20+chaffinch
7 tree sparrow
1 great spotted woodpecker
several blue and great tits
1 sparrowhawk

from a warm obs hide all the usuals and nice watching whos the top of the pecking order at feeding time and a ruff doing a michael jacko moonwalk on the iced over mere.
a few redwings around the outer carpark didnt bother with the other hides because of the fog.

marshside-
several little egret and a great white egret showing on the outer marsh right next to the road giving great views a close as 20 yards also 2 kestrel and a male sparrowhawk . loads of pinkfeet on the outer marsh and a chap with a big gun heading out for them in full camo gearcry.gif



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sid ashton


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Jonathan

After I had been to Hesketh this morning I ate my lunch overlooking Crossens Marsh and there were no Short Eared Owls about at that time - between 12.00 and 13.00 so it looks as though they are late afternoon birds.

Jonathan Platt wrote:

There were six short-eared owls over the salt marsh at Marshside this evening (3.30-4.10pm), all down the north end by Crossens Marsh. Couldn't see any earlier from the sandplant so maybe only coming out late afternoon? We saw two there on Saturday, again late afternoon - there'd been none there when we scanned the marsh mid-afternoon.

Also of interest were a couple of merlins and a peregrine. Wigeon and godwit numbers have dropped off drastically on Marshside 1 & 2 since last weekend, no doubt due to cold weather. Around 100 whoopers in two flocks on Plex Moss earlier.





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Jonathan Platt


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There were six short-eared owls over the salt marsh at Marshside this evening (3.30-4.10pm), all down the north end by Crossens Marsh. Couldn't see any earlier from the sandplant so maybe only coming out late afternoon? We saw two there on Saturday, again late afternoon - there'd been none there when we scanned the marsh mid-afternoon.

Also of interest were a couple of merlins and a peregrine. Wigeon and godwit numbers have dropped off drastically on Marshside 1 & 2 since last weekend, no doubt due to cold weather. Around 100 whoopers in two flocks on Plex Moss earlier.

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Anthony Dixon


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Marshside 10am-12.30pm

Little Egret
Kestrel
Twite (12 or so)
Black Tailed Godwit (100's)

Martin Mere 12.45pm-4.15pm

Whooper Swan (1000 or so)
Plenty of Tree Sparrow

Spent 2 hours or trying to spot a rumoured Crested Tit along with a dozen or so other hapless souls!

Highlight was the Starling display at dusk...Not quite as large a roost as past evenings (6-7 thousand tonight I'd guess) but a wonderful sight all the same.

Anthony




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Steve Suttill


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Hi Ian

No offence taken. The event organiser at Martin Mere is Victoria Fellowes

victoria.fellowes@wwt.org.uk

I'm sure she would appreciate any feedback. There were actually less stalls there last year but they were doing building work then and we (BTO) couldn't get a place. In the past there were a lot more holiday firms, more artists exhibiting and some bird food stalls. I'm not sure why the number of stalls has reduced and am not sure if the WWT staff could tell you as the event organiser seems to change every year.

One of the BTO staff who came up for the weekend said it was the best regional fair she had been to so, if I were you Ian, I wouldn't bother with any of the others!

Sorry not to have seen you at the event.

Cheers, Steve

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Ian Campbell


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Steve Suttill wrote:

Sorry to hear that you were disappointed. I don't really know what you expected - it's not Rutland in September! It would be good for you to pass on your comments to the organisers.

As one of the people staffing the BTO stall, we had a pretty good weekend despite the weather - at least we were in a nice warm room not a windblown, soggy tent like the RSPB.
..............................................................................
Steve, no critisism of the stands that were there intended, in fact I bought an excellent value T shirt from one. There did appear to be less than last year and we did wonder what the extra crowds of people attending would have thought.
As for the soggy RSPB tent, well we didn't find that one, in fact we thought it strange they were not there!
I will try to pass on our thoughts to the organisers, would that be the WWT ?.
Cheers Ian


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Steve Suttill


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Ian Campbell wrote:

Went to NW Birdfair this a.m. with Peter and Norma Johnson, last years was a disappointment so thought it could only improvehmm.gif. We were wrongdisbelief.gif, even worse with hardly any stalls or exhibits, will not be going again.


Sorry to hear that you were disappointed. I don't really know what you expected - it's not Rutland in September! It would be good for you to pass on your comments to the organisers.

As one of the people staffing the BTO stall, we had a pretty good weekend despite the weather - at least we were in a nice warm room not a windblown, soggy tent like the RSPB.

Steve



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Sean Sweeney


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Was at the NW Birdfair on Saturday afternoon. Quite wet, but not as bad as today by all accounts. hmm.gif Another good effort from all involved up there.

As for the birds, in with the feral Barnacle Goose Flock was a Red-breasted Goose, not seen this individual for a few years and not sure of what it's current status is in terms of legitimacy, but always a lovely bird to see in the field. Also with the flock was a hybrid Canada/Barnacle trying to fox me, as they were quite far away. In addition to this I located a Lesser Canada Goose in with them, which I had seen a few weeks back, but has not been reported for a bit. Previously I saw it associating with the PF Geese, but this time it was more in with the Barnacles, so if you are up there keep your eye on the Barny flock wink.gif

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Ian Campbell


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Went to NW Birdfair this a.m. with Peter and Norma Johnson, last years was a disappointment so thought it could only improvehmm.gif. We were wrongdisbelief.gif, even worse with hardly any stalls or exhibits, will not be going again.
Still the wild birds, at least, gave quite an impressive display.
Cheers Ian
ps Thanks Paul W wink.gif at least I didn't have to pay to get in.

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Jon Taverner


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Another attempt, this time with John Lyon, at seeing the Shore Lark ended in complete failure. Arrived at 9am and stayed till 1pm. No sign of it anywhere despite patrolling its favoured haunts. A very mobile flock of Twites kept us entertained with some Ringed Plover and Dunlin at high tide.

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Phil Owen


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After missing out last week, me and Henry Cook decided on another go for the Shorelark.

On arriving at around 11am we were met by some other birders who were heading back to the car park who said that the bird was still present a few hundred yards up the beach between two Red Flags.

However, things were not looking good at all as almost immediately, heavy rain and strong winds set in.

On making the journey up the beach in truly atrocious conditions, finally, we managed to find the bird feeding on the path. It was obviously putting up with the weather a lot better than we were!!

Although we both had our 'scopes with us, it was impossible to use them in the rain and high winds, so had to settle for good views through our bins (who cares though after last week though??) and it was a lifer for me!!! http://www.sparkimg.com/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I don't think I've ever wanted to get back to the car so much, soaking wet and freezing cold but worth it in the end!!!

Also had approx 200 Whooper Swans in a field on the way there and over 2000 Pink Feet in another field on the way back.






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Jonathan Platt


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A house martin was hawking above the salt marsh at Marshside this morning, dodging a large starling flock and squally showers! Earlier, the shore lark was by the third red flag north of Weld Road. Only a few dozen yards away on the beach was a flock of 22 twite and a single linnet. As I walked back to Weld Road a flock of 40+ mixed twite and linnet was feeding along side the path. Driving towards Marshside I stopped off opposite the north end of the marina and scoped the beach and marsh - another flock of linnets contained at least one twite.

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Henry Cook


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Just to clarify my earlier wobbly geography, the marsh we scanned across the road from Marshside was Crossen's Marsh, not Banks's Marsh.
Thanks. Henry.

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sid ashton


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That's the third day running it's done that - the old adage that the "early birder catches the early bird" seems to apply in this case - "up with the lark" and all thatbiggrin.gifbiggrin.gif

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Henry Cook


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'Shore' enough, the lark is back this morning!

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Jon Taverner


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Thanks for that, Henry. Should have gone for the G.N. Diver instead! It appears to have entertained its audience all day long.

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Henry Cook


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The lark didn't reappear Jon.
Me and Phil Owen gave it a wander up to the pier from 12.30-1.30pm but nothing else about other than 1 Stonechat, 4 Skylarks, c160 Linnets and the usual selection of waders.
Over on Marshside + Banks Marsh there were tonnes of Black-tailed Godwits, Lapwing, Wigeon, Pink-footed Geese (Banks Marsh), 3 Barnacle Geese, Golden Plovers, 2 Peregrines, 1 Ruff and an interesting goose.
It initially struck me as a Snow/Ross's type but a blue phase bird, showing quite a lot of white on the neck and undersides plus a whitish wing flash. It became apparent structurally it was a Snow Goose. Not the classic blue morph type of bird as the white on the neck stretched down too far and white on the underside was too extensive. As anything less than a perfect specimen will probably not make it past a rarities committee it's probably not worth pursueing although this was in good company of migrant geese... Put it out on the news services though so I hope the locals can take a critical look at the beast!
Lovely part of the coast.
Thanks. Henry.

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Jon Taverner


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Mmm - my attempt at twitching today was somewhat unsuccessful. Decided to go for the Shore Lark . Didn't start too well - the East Lancs Road was all snarled up because of problems on the M6. Finally arrived at the car park around 9.45am. Friendly birders told me it was up at the far end, towards the Pier, and was showing really well. Got to the place and at that precise moment a dog walker appeared and flushed it. Hadn't returned by midday so gave up and went to Martin Mere instead. No doubt the Lark re-appeared as soon as I left!!

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Tim Wilcox


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WOW! Decided on a bit of goose watching at Martin Mere in a casual sort of way and got the page on the way to the Ron Barker about the Shore Lark. Had spotted Tone's car in the car park so spent a couple of hours watching the PF geese with him as I've so many times been for unseen Shore Larks - even stopped for some soup then couldn't resist the pilgrimage. Arrived at Weld Road CP at 1.00pm (easier to find than I thought it would be - just hit Marine Drive and keep going) and there it was! Some cracking views until a dog-walker flushed it up towards the pier. Re-found an hour or so later and just 5-10 yards below the road feeding vigorously. An absolute cracker with lemon yellow and black head and still exhibiting residual black horns. A lifer for me and one of my most sought-after birds since I was a kid.

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Rob Thorpe


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Ian McKerchar wrote:

Of course you just happened to be going to Pennington anyway when the Ibis was there Rob wink.gif




Of course! I was already en-route when I got your text, honest! biggrin.gif
Just cuz you didn't see it nana.gif

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Ian McKerchar


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Of course you just happened to be going to Pennington anyway when the Ibis was there Rob

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Rob Thorpe


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DIRTY TWITCHERS! wink.gif

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Ian McKerchar


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Twitcher- someone who goes to a specific location with the intention of seeing a particular bird which has already been found by someone else.

That might be travelling 300 miles to see a mega rarity on a coastal headland, poping along to the next hide along because someones just found something nice, going to your local patch see secure a patch tick your mate's found or quite frankly rushing downstairs because your better half has just found a new bird for your garden.

We ALL twitch at some point and to be honest the few bad ones spoil it for the rest. It's no coincidence that the overwhelming majority of the UK's best BIRDERS are also or have been twitchers

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sid ashton


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Rob Thorpe wrote:


How can all the twitchers have left if you were still there? weirdface.gif

Depends on how you define a "twitcher" which was the point I was making!!!!



Twitcher: A person who gives birders a bad name. Alternatively, someone who does his or her upmost to fill the atmosphere with lovely carbon...


Rob - I didn't realise that I fell into either of these catagories which is what you appear to be implying disbelief.gif

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Rob Thorpe


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sid ashton wrote:

Rob Thorpe wrote:


How can all the twitchers have left if you were still there? weirdface.gif

Depends on how you define a "twitcher" which was the point I was making!!!!



Twitcher: A person who gives birders a bad name. Alternatively, someone who does his or her upmost to fill the atmosphere with lovely carbon...

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sid ashton


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Rob Smallwood wrote:

Nice to see you too Sid.

Also in the area today was a distant but id-able Great White Egret on Banks Marsh visable distantly from crossens (over the back of the Barnacles).



Rob we could see 4 Little Egret over in that direction but they didn't have a yellow bill between them biggrin.gif as far as we could see.

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sid ashton


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Rob Thorpe wrote:


How can all the twitchers have left if you were still there? weirdface.gif

Depends on how you define a "twitcher" which was the point I was making!!!!

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Rob Smallwood


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Nice to see you too Sid.

Also in the area today was a distant but id-able Great White Egret on Banks Marsh visable distantly from crossens (over the back of the Barnacles).



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Rob Thorpe


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sid ashton wrote:

Gary Gorner wrote:



I arrived at 11.00am and was rather dissappointed to see all the twitchers leaving the car park saying it had flown towards ainsdale.



Gary I thought that all of the "twitchers" left when it started raining at about 08.00 - see my postwink.gif



How can all the twitchers have left if you were still there? weirdface.gif

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sid ashton


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Gary Gorner wrote:



I arrived at 11.00am and was rather dissappointed to see all the twitchers leaving the car park saying it had flown towards ainsdale.



Gary I thought that all of the "twitchers" left when it started raining at about 08.00 - see my postwink.gif

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Gary Gorner


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weld road roundabout

I arrived at 11.00am and was rather dissappointed to see all the twitchers leaving the car park saying it had flown towards ainsdale. Decided to wait aroundin case it camebackand sure enough it landed righ infront of us.The bird was being chased up the beach towards the pier after being disturbed a few times by the tourists.After getting some nice photos went to nels hide .Lots ofwildfowl,godwits,4 ruff,several golden plover in amogst the lapwings and lots of curlew at the back with the pink footed geese

onto martin mere where a male brambling was showing very well infont of the janet keer hide thanks to andy at infocus for the info on this birdbiggrin.gifThousands of pinkfeet and a spectacular sunset rounded of a great days birding again and another lifer for mebiggrin.gif

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sid ashton


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Arrived at Weld Road car park Birkdale Beach at 07.15 and spent 1.5 hours looking for the Shore Lark- during this period we got thoroughly cold and damp but managed to find a large mixed flock of Linnet with 40+ Twite also Mipits, Pied and Grey Wags but no sign of the target bird. By now the early birders had left but persistance paid and after a warming coffee we set off down the beach again toward the pier and found the little rascal - "Shore Lark delight" biggrin.gif it was brilliant to be the "refinders" of this on-the-day elusive bird - when we left there were about 20 birders on the beach including - Messers Baron and Smallwood nice to see you again guys.

Then a quick stop over at Marshside gave us a cracking female Merlin on a post in front of Sandgrounders hide and finally a lookover Crossens marsh produced 7 Barnacle Geese amonst the Pinkfooted/Greylag geese and what looked like several 100's of Golden Plover. A nice morning's birding.





-- Edited by sid ashton on Sunday 8th of November 2009 04:58:39 PM

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Sean Sweeney


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RE: martin mere /marshside
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Popped in to Martin Mere on way back from Heysham yesterday afternoon. Picked out several Barnacle Geese in with the 8-10,000 Pink feet on the reserve, as well as the Lesser Canada Goose, before losing the Canada when the whole flock rose and was joined by another 5,000 birds in from the west. Amazing spectacle as ever with the sun fading behind them and a chorus of cackling all around.

All the other usual birds including Ruff, Whooper Swan and supporting cast, but couldn't pick out any Bean Geese from the Pinkies unfortunetely, well there has to be something to back for heh!! smile.gif

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