Latest sightings
Green-winged Teal
An moulting drake Green-winged Teal was found from the Ron Barker Hide this morning before the flock was flushed by Marsh Harrier. It was relocated again from the Ron Barker Hide late afternoon on Sunley's Marsh. (see map from yesterday). Two juvenile Gre
11 October 2015
Tundra Bean Geese again
Another calm day making birding on the reserve a pleasure. A quality goose day with two Tundra Bean Geese, one adult and one juvenile and not associating with one another. It's certainly possible that the adult bird is different from the pair seen here on
10 October 2015
Tundra Bean Goose
Another excellent autumn day with light winds and mostly sunny all day. The large numbers of Pink-footed Geese dominate the proceeding with 20,000+ birds in the area. Sharp eyed observers picked out a Tundra Bean Goose in among the Pink-foot flock and a B
8 October 2015
New Whoopers
A small influx of Whooper Swan this morning with 11 birds flying onto the Mere. The first two adult Common Shelduck for a few months flew in late afternoon. The Shelduck numbers can peak at over 1000. The Pink-footed Goose count was ~ 30000 in the morning
7 October 2015
Barnacle Goose and other birds and moth!
Perhaps as many as 30,000 Pink-footed Geese this morning in the roost. In among them and easy to find Barnacle Goose, first of the autumn here and a couple of leucistic/ partial leucistic Pink-footed Geese. Lone Barnacle G
6 October 2015
Bean Geese arrive!
Another ace day at Martin Mere with thousands of Pink-footed Geese swirling around and coming out and back in on the reserve. No counts this morning but at least 20000 birds present early on. Star find of the day goes to regular observer Gordon Taylor wit
5 October 2015
White-front and Glossy Ibis
Starting off with 25000 Pink-footed Geese on the reserve is always going to be a good day. Large numbers on the reserve all day in between big groups coming and going. A presumed Greenland White-fronted Goose (juv) was seen from the Ron Barker Hide before
4 October 2015
Geese
A misty start to the day although not to bad for scanning through the thousands of Pink-footed Geese constantly around the reserve. Estimates from the recent count put the total around 25,000 roosting on the reserve. The 5 flying Whooper Swan were present
3 October 2015
Beardies ?
Three birds seen briefly in flight from the Ron Barker hide today by an experienced observer were almost certainly Bearded Tits. ("99.9 % certain"). Although not the first records for the reserve, they are exceptionally rare here and would be a new bird
1 October 2015
15,000+ Pink-footed Geese
Pink-footed Geese influx - picture by Andy Bunting Another pleasant day and substantial numbers of Pink-footed Geese now arriving on the reserve. No official counts but yesterdays roost will have topped 15000 birds, i
29 September 2015
Pink-feet in the Sun
Further arrivals of Pink-footed Geese in the past couple of days with perhaps as many as 10,000 birds roosting on the reserve. Some great views to be had of these birds relaxing in the sun after their long journey. Pink-fo
28 September 2015
More Pink-feet
A lovely day on the reserve with windless conditions. Further influx of Pink-footed Geese with 5000+ coming in onto the reserve. Local birds which have been in for a while tend to move around at low altitude, whereas new birds coming in tend to come in fr
26 September 2015
Friday - late update
At least another 2,000 Pink-footed Geese arrived between 6.00 and 6.30 pm, mostly in one big group, but all (strangely) arriveing from a Southerly direction. As I'm writing this (6.30 pm) another group of at least 1,000 birds arrived from the South-east.
25 September 2015
Bird News
More Pink-footed geese arriving arriving on a daily basis at the moment - although not properly counted, estimates of over 2,000 would not be far off the mark. Also on the reserve today, 2 Marsh Harreirs and a Peregrine, along with the usual Common Buzzar
25 September 2015
Latest Sighting
A sudden blast of Westerlies today making for chilly birding around the reserve. The main focus of events are the continued slow arrival of Pink-footed Geese with somewhere in the region of 1600 roosting on the reserve at present.
24 September 2015