MOTHERS DAY AT MARTIN MERE

I had a great day birdwatching today. My mother wanted to visit Martin Mere and do some shopping in Southport, making it an ideal day for me to spend part of Mother’s Day birding. 

 

Martin Mere is owned by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and was established by Sir Peter Scott. Click on the link below for the history of the WWT.

http://www.wwt.org.uk/conservation/history-of-wwt/

Sir Peter Scott

We started off the visit by walking around the wild section of the reserve first, and from the first hide, at least 1000 Whooper swans were seen.

Whooper Swans enjoying the winter sun

Nearly feeding time

Whooper Swan

Other birds of note were Wigeon, Pintail, Pink-Footed Geese, Shoveler, Teal, Ruff, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye.

 Wigeon 

 Pintail

                                                                  Shoveler

Walking on to the next hide, we stopped and got obscured views of a Tawny Owl.

Tawny Owl is having a good sleep in the sun

The feeders held good numbers of Goldfinch, Greenfinch and 16 Tree Sparrows were seen.

Tree Sparrow

After a nice brew and a teacake, we had a look around the captive section of the reserve.

Grey Crowned CraneMale Mandarin Duck 

 Female Mandarin Duck

 Greater Flamingo

 Chilean Flamingo

 Coot

Moorhen

After a good morning's birding and my mother enjoying herself, I called in quick at Marshside RSPB and soon connected with two drake Scaup.

Scaup

 The weather was so clear today that you could see the Lake District from Marshside

 Views of Blackpool Tower looking over the Ribble estuary from Marshside

DRIVING SOUTH

Got up this morning and had a nice full English in the B&B, and headed back towards Wolverton triangle. I gave it another good hour, but there was no sign of the pheasant. Moving on, I stopped at Flitcham Abbey farm to try and photograph some Bramblings, but again the weather turned, and it was hammering it down when I arrived. I did see about six Bramblings in the nearby hedges, but there was no sign of the Little owls I was hoping to see.

Brambling

After this, I stopped off at Tottenhill gravel pits, where I soon connected with the winter plumaged Black necked grebe. 

Black-necked Grebe

A great couple of days birding, which I finished off in London to see my stepson and have a few beers.

A WET DAYS BIRDING IN NORFOLK

I set off from Cheshire in the early hours of this morning and arrived at first light at Wolverton triangle, hoping to see the Golden Pheasant, which has been showing well the last couple of months. After a good hour of waiting, I drove around the triangle, but there was no sign of this elusive species. A Woodcock by the side of the road was a good addition to the day list.

Record shot from the car

I then moved on to Titchwell, the weather was shocking, and it never stopped raining all the time I was there, but I added some good birds to my year list.

 Sanderlings were on the beach, and Slavonian Grebe and Long-Tailed duck were on the sea 

 Up to 30 Avocets were on site

 Black Tailed Godwits were in good numbers

 Ringed Plover

 Grey Plover

Curlew

There was plenty of action around the feeders with Siskin, Goldfinch and a Water Rail.

Greenfinch

Siskin

After a hot coffee and drying out, I made my way towards Blakeney. I wasn't dry for long as the weather was getting even worse when I arrived, but I soon connected with the 5 Lapland buntings that have been present for a while.

 Very wet Lapland Buntings

Other birds of note were Brent geese, Skylark, Little grebe and a flyover Hen harrier

 Brent Geese

 Little Egret

 Reed Bunting

Little Grebe

Moving on from Blakeney, I headed to the east bank at Cley behind Arnold's marsh, where I soon found the small flock of Snow bunting, and thankfully, it had stopped raining and the sun came out!

The beach at East Bank

Looking from the East bank over Cley reserve.

After a bit of lunch, I went back to Holkham, where I saw Egyptian and Pink-footed geese.

 Egyptian Goose

Pink-Footed Goose

Late afternoon was spent at Choseley barns, where a flock of 24 Yellowhammers were feeding on seed and good numbers of Red-Legged Partridge were around.

 Red Legged Partridge

 Nice to see a good number of Yellowhammers that are in decline in the UK

 Pheasant

A Hare and Red-Legged Partridge

A view from Choseley overlooking Titchwell R.S.P.B

After Choseley, I spent the rest of the afternoon back at Titchwell. where I got good views of Hen and Marsh Harrier.

Marsh Harrier

After a good day's birding, I headed to Hunstanton to my B&B, shattered but managed to fit in a few beers around town before a good night's sleep.