WWT Martin Mere : 13th November 2016

The annual North West Bird Fair was held at Martin Mere on the 12th and 13th of November. I knew that John Poyner, my guide when I am birding in the highlands, would be there representing the Bird Watching and Wildlife Club based at the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown-on-Spey so we thought we would combine a visit to see the Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Geese with saying hello to him. It was a fine day so we were looking forward to a good days birding.

We dropped in to say hello to John first and then headed off in the direction of the Ron Barker hide before it got too busy. We had started off an hour earlier than usual to get a good parking spot and to try to beat the crowds. We did get a good parking spot but it didn’t seem to be massively busy though the photographers were out in force and, these days, you see more people with cameras than scopes at this type of reserve.

En route to the Ron Barker hide we stopped off at the Kingfisher hide where there was a bird ringing session going on so we watched as a succession of Robins were ringed but there was also a Dunnock, a Tree Sparrow and, best of all, both male and female, juvenile Goldcrests.

Up at Ron Barker it was dominated by Teal and Wigeon though we did see a solitary Pink-footed Goose and a Kingfisher. There were two Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk was see briefly.

Returning down the avenue we dropped in at the Hale Hide which had more Pinkies and a couple of Whooper Swans and a few Ruff.

At the Raines Observatory we had the pleasure of seeing a flock of around fourteen Tree Sparrows right under the window of the observatory feasting on spilled grain that the ducks had missed. The usual ducks were there, enlivened by a good number of Pintail. There were more Whooper Swans and Grelags. There was also a big flock of Lapwings and even more Ruff – there must be a very large population of Ruff over the whole site now.

We drifted down to where the Swanlink Hide used to be. This is the first time that we have been there since that hide was demolished. The replacement, nearer the visitor centre is the partially heated and enclosed “Discovery Hide” but this is really no substitute for the old Swanlink Hide and has no character at all. It just encourages the increasingly “theme park” nature of the site and one less feature is left for birders that like a more natural environment for watching birds.

The Swanlink hide has been replaced with two small blinds that are, in all probability, going to become permanently occupied by photographers. Down at the Janet Keir hide it was quite quiet with nothing especially interesting so we moved on to the United Utilities Hide.

There it was also a bit quiet but we did get a Buzzard and a Marsh Harrier and there were some Snipe and Ruff on the islands and a handful of Pink-footed Geese. Although I have not mentioned too many Whoopers or Pinkies, there were groups of them flying everywhere. Apparently as the Pink-footed Geese move on, more Swans tend to arrive so that might explain why Swan numbers seemed to be down on previous years. Additionally if there is good food in the fields both species will tend to spend the day there and only come onto the reserve as the afternoon wears on.

At the Harrier hide we were able to add Tufted Duck and Gadwall to our duck list for the day.

We dropped back to the visitor centre to have a cup of tea and a bite to eat before settling down to a talk we had got tickets to on our arrival. I had been looking forward to this as it was a talk on bird eggs by Tim Birkhead who had recently published his book “The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg” This turned out to be about an hour of fascinating insights into the egg and had a lot of basic science that we really appreciated and helped our understanding of the subject. He turned out to be an excellent lecturer and I suppose that is because he was used to teaching undergraduates. He even made amusing comments about some of the audience that seemed right out of a college situation. If I hadn’t already intended buying the book this talk would have persuauded me but I have been saving it up for Christmas !

After this we said our goodbyes to John and then we went to the Discovery hide to see the 3pm Swan feed. It was already quite full and there wasn’t really room to see well. An irritating commentary through loud speakers added to the already dissatisfactory experience. Photographers blocked most of the windows and the feeding area is not very much smaller than it was when the feeding was done at the old Swanlink hide.

There were, of course, Lots of Whooper Swans, Shelduck and Mallards is a crowd worthy of Market Street at Christmas which is amusing to see still.

So, all in all, a reasonable day with the downsides that we expected with it being a weekend. We will probably get back up here again on a weekday – perhaps when the weather is too poor for photography – if that is ever the case! I suppose you do not need good light to talk incessantly about camera settings while other people are trying to enjoy the quiet ambience of listening to the natural sounds of the animals.

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere : Kingfisher Hide

Species	Count
Goldcrest	2
European Robin	5
Dunnock	2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow	1

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere : Ron Barker Hide

Species	Count
Pink-footed Goose	1
Mute Swan	1
Eurasian Wigeon	300
Mallard	20
Common Teal	300
Common Pheasant	1
Great Cormorant	3
Grey Heron	1
Eurasian Sparrowhawk	1
Common Buzzard	2
Common Moorhen	2
Northern Lapwing	40
Common Kingfisher	1
Eurasian Magpie	6
Carrion Crow	20

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere : Hale Hide

Species	Count
Pink-footed Goose	10
Greylag Goose	30
Canada Goose	12
Whooper Swan	2
Mallard	20
Common Teal	30
Great Cormorant	6
Common Moorhen	2
Ruff	4

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere : Raines Observatory

Species	Count
Greylag Goose	40
Whooper Swan	40
Common Shelduck	20
Eurasian Wigeon	150
Northern Pintail	30
Common Teal	100
Common Coot	2
Northern Lapwing	200
Ruff	12
Black-headed Gull	40
Feral Pigeon	20
Common Wood Pigeon	8
Common Starling	30
Eurasian Tree Sparrow	14

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere : Janet Keir Hide

Species	Count
Mallard	8
Common Pheasant	1
Common Moorhen	1
Coal Tit	2
Great Tit	1
Eurasian Blue Tit	4
European Robin	2
Dunnock	2
Common Chaffinch	4
European Goldfinch	2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow	2

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere : United Utilities Hide

Species	Count
Pink-footed Goose	40
Greylag Goose	60
Common Teal	100
Common Pheasant	1
Eurasian Marsh Harrier	1
Common Buzzard	1
Northern Lapwing	100
Ruff	3
Common Snipe	8
Common Starling	40

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere : Harrier Hide

Species	Count
Common Shelduck	10
Gadwall	10
Tufted Duck	2
Black-headed Gull

Bird Sightings : WWT Martin Mere : Discovery Hide

Species	Count
Whooper Swan	50
Common Shelduck	60
Mallard	60

WWT Martin Mere : 13th November 2016