6 March 2016

MOTHERS DAY AT MARTIN MERE

Had a good days birding today. My mother wanted to visit Martin mere and do a bit of shopping in Southport so an ideal day for me spending part of Mothers day birding.
Martin mere is owned by the Wildfowl and Wetlands trust and was set up by Sir Peter Scott.Click on the link below for the history of the 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 a 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 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.
Gray Crowned CraneMale Mandarin Duck 
 Female Mandarin Duck
 Greater Flamingo
 Chilean Flamingo
 Coot
Moorhen
After a good mornings birding and mother enjoying herself I called in quick at Marshside RSPB and soon connected with two drake Scaup.



Scaup
 The weather was so clear today you could see the Lake District from Marshside
 Views of Blackpool Tower looking over the Ribble estuary from Marshside






















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