Hi Chris, there is only access to the area the Bluethoat favours when accompanied by a member of staff. The public footpath is still a fair distance from the viewing area. Tonight a guided walk is starting from the car park at 8.00pm. Further walks may be arranged if possible (info will be on the website or MMWWT facebook)

I've just looked at the OS map and seen a public right of way that seems to look feasible. Does anyone know if I can access the location without actually going into Martin Mere WWT?

Thanks, Chris

-- Edited by C Brown on Friday 21st of June 2013 05:54:38 PM

Anyone thinking of going for the White-spotted Bluethroat should be prepared for a longish walk out onto the moss where it has taken up residence amongst the brash piles along the farm track from the Janet Kerr hide. The brash piles are on the left just before two big heaps of freshly dumped soil/earth. Furthermore it's not the easiest of birds to find. I was there for 3 hours early afternoon and managed a very brief view when it was perched up on one of the piles. Also present of interest:- Common Whitethroat, Marsh Harrier(f), Sedge Warbler and Sparrowhawk.

Nice to see other forum members:- Scott Reid, Alan Patterson and Andy Swift.



-- Edited by sid ashton on Thursday 20th of June 2013 09:14:34 PM

White-spotted Bluethroat at Martin Mere WWT, my pics are not going to win any competitions but what a stunning little bird and a great new tick! CRACKING LITTLE STUNNER

I arrived just after 920 and was lucky enough to see the bird before it dipped off around 1130ish only calling from behind the piles of brash, access was from near the harrier hides public footpath.

http://austinmorley.blogspot.co.uk/ - as I am unable to upload or share and show any photos to anyone who was unable to make it or see the bird then please have a look it has pictures (:



-- Edited by Austin Morley on Friday 21st of June 2013 07:49:36 AM

10.00 - 13.00, Highlights.

Great views of a male Marsh Harrier hunting low over the reed beds.

Avocet 9
Black Tailed Godwit 10
Oystercatcher 5
Ringed Plover 2
Redshank
Widgeon 2
Cuckoo heard only
Buzzard 2

Popped in this morning after a ringing demonstration at Mere Sands Woods in the hope of seeing my second stint sp in 2 days. Unfortunately not to be however amongst the more usual fare were 14 Knot including one in summer plumage and a single Grey Plover. All birds flew off NNW.
Speaking to the Infocus guys could well be the largest Knot flock they've had

Crossbills around first thing today, but seemed to disappear shortly after. I certainly didn't see them. More luck with the Spoonbill from United Utilities hide.

Excellent views of the Spoonbill from the United Utilities Hide this morning. It was standing-room only in a hide that is normally empty. Marsh Harrier, Little Egret and lots of Avocets were other highlights.

Martyn Jones wrote:

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Sean Molloy wrote:

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Still about 1400 Whopper Swans

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They must be the Gigantus race then

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Hahaha, I spent about 10 minutes trying to work out what you meant until I finally spotted my spelling mistake.

Some of them were quite big though...

Meant to write this up yesterday.

19/2/13 11.15am - 4.30pm

20-30 Avocets
4 Ringed Plovers
Still about 1400 Whooper Swans
Didn't count the Greylags but there were still a lot where as the Pink-footed numbers seem a lot less
60+ Ruff
Black-tailed Godwits
Oystercatchers
Lapwings
2 Buzzards
All the usual at Janet Keir including a Brambling which I unfortunately didn't see but the rest of the party did
400+ Teal, had my eyes peeled for a green winged one but to no avail
Pochards
Widgeon
Shellducks
Pintails
Ended the day on a brief but fantastic viewing of the Barn Owl at Ron Barker having a mid-air fight with a Kestrel!

Sean

-- Edited by Sean Molloy on Thursday 21st of February 2013 04:49:28 PM

-- Edited by Sean Molloy on Thursday 21st of February 2013 04:50:01 PM

great day with the dad and Wayne produced: very windy but dry!

1600+ whooper swans
70 ruff
1 treecreeper
4 buzzard
2 sparrowhawk
1 kestrel
1 peregrine falcon
1 brambling(janet kear)
large numbers of wildfowl including wigeon, pintail, teal, mallard, pochard, tuffted duck and greylag geese
small numbers of pink-footed geese
loads of finches and reed buntings(janet kear)
20 oystercatcher
2 black tailed godwit
2 ringed plover
2 great black backed gull

8 grey partridge in fields out side mere

Freezing cold wind.

More Swans in outlying fields than on the reserve but all the usual suspects present.

Best sighting was a Bittern from the Ron Barker hide - in far corner of the lake, it put all the Teal to flight as it stalked along the water's edge.

Also Brambling on the feeders from Janet Keir hide.

Strangely only one Ruff seen and no Shoveler at all !

Excellent day. Quick trip round the exotic and captive species ponds. Some quality photos and very suprised at just how tame they've all become, especially when you get Goldeneye, Hooded Mergansers, Marbled Teal and Red Crested Pochard virtually begging for food.

Stunning views from the In-Focus Binocular shop hide of Whooper Swan, Mallard, Shelduck, Coot, Teal, Pochard, Wigeon, Pintail, all in abundance, and right on cue a pair of Peregrine's upset the whole gathering trying to flush something out.

Swan-link hide. Again fantastic views of the fore-mentioned species ... and plenty of Ruffs.
What a great sight, the Peregrine pair caught a female Teal on the wing and again that sent the vast numbers into panic, the noise was almost deafening.

Harrier hide. A large group of birders in here, everyone was focused on the Green Winged Teal, that's a 1st for me, easily told apart by the vertical green bar on the wing rather than horizontal.
Plenty of common Teal, Coot, Mallard, a few Gadwall, and great view of a Barn Owl flying low over the reeds edge.

Quick stop at the BNFL hide, think that what it was called, provided a spectacle, the pair of Peregrine's had been joined by a young one, still in brown plumage, all 3 took off and within minutes one had caught a Ruff in flight, I caught these hides just at the right time, except for the Woodcock but apparently most people missed it.

Woodcock had been sighted at Janet Kier hide but on arrival I was informed that it hadn't been seen since the morning and the large group of birders were in there and they told me even they hadn't seen it so chances are the 1 sighting in the morning was the lucky one.
Reed Bunting were plentiful here, Chaffinch, Blue..Great..Coal..and Long Tailed Tit all present

Ron Barker hide. Feeding time for the vast numbers. The guide with microphone link to the hide was brilliant. Pointed out all the species, and he got a laugh out of everyone when he informed us that the Greylags there were feral so despite having the instinct to migrate, they didn't know where to, so they chose to fly to Knowsley Safari Park, and back to Martin Mere. Some of the Pink Footed Geese don't move at all due to injury, they stay all year.

Redwing and Fieldfare were knocking about the reserve. And in amongst the Ruff were a few waders that resembled Redshank, not just red legs but also the orangey red beak with black tip but it was pointed out that the Ruff always get mistaken for Redshank. Got some great shots.

1 last note.. they do have the occasional Mink I was told but they are on top of any potential problems.
Well worth a visit here. Staff were superb!

Pennington flash in a minute before United.

Late post for trip on 06/01 1pm - 5pm

Highlights included-

Stunning views of a Barn Owl hunting right infront of the Ron Barker hide
30-40 Ruff (some already showing signs of moult, with a white head)
Single female Brambling at Janet Kear hide
Several flocks of Redwing over and 3 Fieldfare
Large numbers of Teal, Wigeon, Pintail and Shelduck.

The sight of several hundred Whooper Swans at feeding time and then the return of thousands of Pink-footed Geese, just after dusk, were incredible.

Spent a long time at the Janet Kear hide trying to turn various bits of wood and undergrowth into a Woodcock, but nothing doing. Several people had seen it earlier in the day, as well as a Green-winged Teal and 2 Bewick's Swans.

Family outing to Martin Mere this afternoon. Managed to get an hour or so around the hides too.

From the Ron Barker hide there were huge numbers of Teal and Wigeon. I had a quick scan through the hoards in a vain hope of dropping on the Green Winged Teal from last week but that was just wishful thinking. Also present from this hide were around ten or so feral? Barnacle Geese, upto 25 Ruff and around 8 Dunlin.

Huge numbers of Whooper Swans on the main mere as is the norm at this time of year. Also from the Janet Kear hide I had limited views of part of a Woodcock that was successfully hiding in the undergrowth.

Perhaps the best bird of the day was a male Blackcap that I found eating berries in the captive bird section. Nice bird to see at this time of year!

Also a massive thanks to the guy at In Focus who did a repair on my binoculars for free. Excellent service.

Small world Paul, we was in the Ron barker hide watching the green winged teal too, good luck to anyone picking it out in all the other teal, we kept finding it and losing it constantly, Nothing major to add to Pauls list, a cracking male Hen harrier showed in the morning and we saw it about 2.30 ish later on still present,a distant view from swan link hide, a few sparrowhawk though the day and 3 peregrines on view quite often, a few kestrels and buzzards knocking around, one interesting juv with a very whiteish head, simlilar to the juv variation in the collins, 2 golden plovers with the lapwings,

Good Day at the Mere
Peregrine-1 Juv,1 adult mainly sitting on the posts at the back of the mere,at one point the adult caught a lapwing,but wouldn't share it with the youngster
Merlin-1
Marsh Harrier-1 adf and 1 imm
Pink footed geese-c10000
Whooper Swan-60
plus plenty pintail,wigeon,Teal etc
Anyone wanting good pics of the geese ,now is the time to go,and its better when there are fewer swans,to get individual pics,as later in the year there are so many that its hard to get a single bird in the picture.-some spectacular moments today when all the pink feet took off at once and the peregrines took that oppotunity to attack the other birds :)

Hi Ollie, as far I as am concerned the reports of Curlew Sandpiper relate to the juvenile Dunlin. I have not heard mention of a Curlew Sandpiper from any of the regulars I am the
"Guide in the Hide" and usually there three days a week (not usually on a Sunday though) but I'm sure many of the other regulars could help out with any I.D questions. Next time make yourself known, it's always nice to "put a face to a name" I'm usually in the right hand corner upstairs making the most noise
Cheers Gordon

Curlew Sandpiper had been reported. I think I found this, but it was very distant, way at the back from Ron Barker Hide, so not a great view. Once I picked it out among the far larger Ruff and Lapwing, I was able to see a dinky wader with reddish head and flush to breast, white underparts and longish, clearly downcurved bill.

Also at Ron Barker

3 Whooper Swans
1 Marsh Harrier
2 Raven
Lots of Greylags flying over
Kestrel

Swanlink Hide

Black-tailed Godwits
Kestrel
Peregrine, seen from the trail, great view

Also really enjoyed their wildfowl collection, nice to see Wood Duck, Ruddy Shelduck and Lesser White-fronted Goose up-close, as well as some lovely birds from around the world.

AM
Pretty quiet at the mere-only things of note
Marsh Harrier-2 ,possibly 3
Ruff- c10
Buzzard-3
Plenty Greylag and Teal

Further info on the Marsh Harriers at Martin Mere. The nest was on a raised tussock in a flooded field, the chicks were about 7-10 days old when the heavy rain on the 22nd of June caused severe flooding on the reserve. The nest remained above the flood but it is assumed that the chicks died due to the adults being unable to hunt. On the Saturday the male was bringing food and a food pass was seen, we hoped that the chicks had survived but by Tuesday the pair had abandoned the nest.
The pair are still being seen on the reserve so there is a good chance of another attempt next year

News on the WWT website that the newly hatched Marsh Harrier chicks perished in the recent floodwater.

There are 2 or 3 resident Whooper swans at the mere , either injured or just not interested in going and have been there for some years

Frank

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleipnerofasgard/

Late PM
Pretty quiet
1 hobby distant
5 Common Buzzard
1 Ruff
a few redshank and oystercatcher
quite a few Avocet


-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Monday 4th of June 2012 06:57:42 PM