Sightings - Martin Mere
Latest Sightings
Calm condition continued over the past two days, frosty on Monday and slightly overcast today. The day started off with a catch of 26 Pink-footed Geese on Top Mere and a few Teal. These birds have been ringed and a couple have had satellite tags added so
31 October 2017
Whoopers and other birds.
Lovely end to the weekend making up for the miserable conditions on Saturday. Whooper Swan numbers are on the up with around 260+ counted on the reserve this morning with around 100 at the 3pm feed in front of the Discovery Hide.
29 October 2017
Pale-bellied Brent Goose
A Pale-bellied Brent Goose was among the Pink-footed Geese on Owl Marsh this morning before presumably flying off, hopefully will get seen again over the weekend. Yesterday a report of a juv White-fronted Goose in the afternoon couldn't be found later, bu
27 October 2017
Raptors
Good numbers of raptors in in recent days with up to 6-7 Marsh Harrier, juv Peregrine, 4 Kestrel, 2 Sparrowhawk, Merlin and several Common Buzzard including 1 or 2 pale birds. Common Buzzard at the edge of the Mere (Tony D
24 October 2017
Scaup
Before the wild weather arrived mid afternoon there were a few sightings of interest, the 1st winter male Scaup re-appeared on the Mere and was showing well at times alongside Tufted Duck for comparison. Also 2 redhead Goosander flew over the Mere early a
21 October 2017
Latest Sightings
Misty rain until midday then a brief gap in the weather before more cloud rolled in. At least 15000 Pink-footed Geese roosted on the reserve. Two Barnacle Geese came in around midday with the Pink-footed flocked. At least 55 Whooper Swan also roosted with
20 October 2017
Mallard family
A couple of sightings today had a spring feel, a newly hatched batch of at least 16 Mallard Ducklings on the Mere were late, and a Swallow which was around in the afternoon were both a reminder of a time earlier in the year.
19 October 2017
Egyptian Geese
A surprise among the Pink-footed Geese today were a pair of Egyptian Geese, not much chance of being wild birds as this is an introduced African species. One of two Egyptian Geese among the thousands of Pinkfeet (Tony Disl
18 October 2017
Dowitcher Still
Long-billed Dowitcher still present after the overnight strong winds that brought a few branches down around the reserve. It spent most of it's time out on Woodend Marsh with Ruff but can go missing in the vegetation but was still present at 5pm at the ba
17 October 2017
Latest Sightings
An extraordinary start to the day when it appeared it wasn't going to get light, all caused by Saharan dust brought up on the weather system driving ex-hurricane Ophelia. When the Sun did break through it looked like this.
16 October 2017
Two Dowitchers...
Top day for visitors with a great deal of goose action coming and going throughout the day and very mild too. Good numbers of Pink-footed Geese with around 10,000 in the vicinity and a couple of Barnacle Geese with them. P
15 October 2017
Latest Sightings
The Long-billed Dowitcher was present on site until ~9.45am when it must have flown off as it was relocated back on the Ribble on Bank's Marsh around 11am before flying back onto the reserve mid afternoon. Little Stint, Dunlin, 70+ Ruff, 20+ Snipe and 700
14 October 2017
Long-billed Dowitcher
After a very quiet wader passage in September we had thought we had seen the best until next spring barring a good rarity which indeed happened today with a Long-billed Dowitcher being found by regular watcher Philip Johnson. It's likely that this is the
13 October 2017
Latest Sightings
A bit of a wash out on Wednesday with rain throughout most of the day. It wasn't too windy and was still quite mild so it could have been worse! Although most of the Pink-footed Geese were off site during the poor weather, we have had around 17000 roostin
11 October 2017
Raptors and Geese
Calm winds and no rain made for an excellent day for those coming to see the spectacle of huge numbers of Pink-footed Geese. Estimates for the roost this morning were over 20000. Pink-footed Geese from the UU Hide The
8 October 2017