Martin Mere 3

From Sunday 30th October
The wildfowl gardens at Martin Mere have many exotic species from around the
world, below are snaps of some of the worlds Swans. In addition there was also
an enclosure where there were three Asian short-clawed Otters which we got a
couple of snaps of.

Coscoroba swan from south America

Black Swan from Australia

Black-necked Swan from South America

Trumpeter Swan from North & West America

Asian short-clawed Otter

Asian Otters

Martin Mere 2

From Sunday 30th October
 We also visited the wildfowl gardens where there are exotic species from around the
world and ducks that can be seen locally usually in winter. One of these the Goldeneye
we will hopefully see shortly as it appears locally, as we went through the visitor center
into the gardens we were greeted by the male Eider duck. Its chest filled with air and it
then made its distinctive wooing call which was great to see up close from this sea duck.

Pochard

Shelduck

Wigeon

Teal

Goldeneye

Goldeneye female



Eider



Mandarin

Mandarin female

Red-crested Pochard



Red-crested Pochard female



Martin Mere 1

From Sunday 30th October
 On and around the mere there were many birds including Cormorant,Whooper Swan,
Greylag Geese,Grey Heron,Lapwing,Mallard,Shelduck,Coot,Moorhen,Shoveler,Teal,
Wigeon and Pochard. We were also pleased to see some Ruff waders close to one hide
and in the far distance one possibly two Marsh Harriers.We also saw the native Mute Swan
 and the Bewick Swan which uses parts of the UK to over winter.There were c200
Greylags which we saw close views of but we didn't spot the Pink-footed geese, maybe
they had been feeding elsewhere. As dusk fell the skies were full of them heading towards
the reserve.

Ruff 1

Ruff 2

Poor distant view of Marsh Harrier

Mute Swan

Bewick Swan 1

Bewick Swan 2

Bewick Swan 3

Pink-footed Geese

Martin Mere Whoopers

From Sunday 30th October
 We spent most of the day at Martin Mere near Ormskirk in Lancashire which is
run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, it was a nice sunny day with the temperature
at 14°C. We saw many birds here but the stars of the reserve for us were the c500
Whooper Swans which have arrived to spend the winter here. They come in large
numbers from their breeding grounds in Russia to escape the northern Europe harsh
winters.

Whooper Swan

Martin Mere

Marshside

Sunday 30th October a.m.
 We arrived at Marshside RSPB Reserve on the West coast near Southport early this
morning, it was fine and the temperature was 10°C. There was plenty of birds to see,
these were mainly wildfowl and waders. The ducks we saw were Mallards,Pintail,Wigeon,
Teal,Shoveler and Goldeneye. The main wader we saw was the Black-tailed Godwit, c100,
I was also shown Snipe by some fellow birder who let me look through their scope,they also
showed me the Goldeneye which was some distance away. There was a flock of several
hundred Starlings which put on a show every time they took to the sky. We also saw some
Geese fly past in the distance,our best guess was Pink-footed.
 After a short stay here we moved inland to Martin Mere where we spent the rest of the day,
and as usual we took far too many pics, so that will have to wait for another day.

Teal

Shoveler

Pintail and Wigeon

Shoveler and Wigeon

Black-tailed Godwit

Geese fly over

Marshside Ducks

    

Redcar Tarn

Saturday 29th October a.m.
 A dry sunny start to the day,a little chilly with a temperature of 8°C as we arrived
at Redcar Tarn. All the usual birds here including the Goosander and Tufted Ducks,
plenty of BH Gulls and a few LBB with young birds among them.
c125 - Mallards
c125 - BH Gull
c100 - Lapwings
25 - Coot
8 - Tufted Ducks
4 - LBB Gulls
5 - Goosander
4 - Moorhen
3 - Muscovy
2 - Common Gulls
1 - Canada

Common Gull

Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck

Goosander

Bolton Abbey 3

Finally from our visit to Bolton Abbey on Monday 24th October our snaps of the
Goosanders we saw. All together we counted 11 along the River Wharfe with one
group of five together. They shared this stretch of the river with the Mandarin Ducks.

Goosander

Goosander and Mandarin Ducks