Mere Sands Wood and Marshside RSPB Reserve

 7^th December 2019 

                                                Marshside - Crossens Outer marsh (NH)

Weather:  Damp, overcast, occasional light rain

Members and friends:  31                      Driver: Glenn

Thirty-one members and friends set off from Stockport for the trip over to the west Lancashire coast. The journey was uneventful (mostly in darkness) and we arrived at Mere Sands Wood around 0830. 

The group walked down the access road to the carpark and split up to explore this Lancashire Wildlife Trust nature reserve. Viewing the Mere End pool, we were entertained by excellent views of a Kingfisher, a sparkling gem in a damp dark overcast morning. The pool held good numbers of duck with Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Mallard being well represented. A group of eleven Goosander fished in the shallow waters. All birds diving in unison and chasing small fish in the dark peaty waters. The group was mainly redheads but included two very smart male birds. Their dark green metallic heads standing out from their mainly snowy white bodies. Overhead Redwing flew through the adjacent tree’s, making their distinctive calls.

                                                                         Goosander (A Barrett)

The woods were generally quiet, with the occasional tit feeding party. All the commoner species were recorded; Blue, Great, Coal and Long Tailed. Blackbird, Dunnock, Wren and Robin were the other commoner birds present. Goldcrest were noted and around the feeding station in the woods we found Nuthatch and Treecreeper, as well as Chaffinch and more parties of feeding tits.

Viewing the arable fields from the south end of the wood we could see distant parties of Pink-footed Geese and large herds of Whooper Swans. They were congregated in a distant field and looked like they were feeding. On distant telephone wires some of the group were able to identify Corn Bunting with Pied Wagtail also present in the area. A Little Egret flew through.

On the main lake at the west of the reserve there were many Shoveler and Teal with a handful of Cormorant and a couple of Grey Heron. A flock of Black-headed Gull’s washed in the pool and overhead a Buzzard drifted by. 

The group returned to the coach and moved on, via Morrisons, to the Marshside RSPB reserve. Many of the party walked around the old sand works, adjacent to the car park, and scoped out over the outer Crossens Marsh.

A pleasant hour ensued with plenty of raptor action. Merlin’s were prevalent, with at least five individual birds being seen. A confiding female bird obligingly perched up on a convenient fence post and gave the watchers excellent views. Further out we recorded hunting Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, with a distant Buzzard perched up surveying the marsh.

                                                                                   Merlin (NH)

The highlight was a male Hen Harrier, a second winter bird with some rufous in the wings. This bird put on a good hunting display, criss-crossing its way back and forth over the marsh. We had good views of it on the ground as well. The bird put up Skylark, Curlew and Snipe as it made its way over the area. There were lots of Pink-footed Geese on the marsh and as the harrier passed over their heads all went up in the tall grass, the avian meerkat impression.

In the pools on Crossens we found flocks of Wigeon with Little Egret fishing the edges. A pair of Stonechat gave good views, conveniently perching up on adjacent fence posts.

Moving on to view the inner Crossens Marsh, from the roadside and the couple of hides we added a number of duck species to the day list. Shelduck and Pintail were present in small numbers and the group quickly picked up on two first winter Scaup. Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit and Golden Plover were added to the list.

                                                                               Scaup (T Kelso)

A fly over Marsh Harrier was the sixth raptor species of the day, but ironically it was the usually present Peregrine that none of the party recorded. This species would have completed the set, the RSPB Marshside’s seven raptor challenge. Still, it had been a good day with 82 species recorded on this trip to the Lancashire coast.

                                                                       Scaup (T Kelso)

Birds seen;

Mute Swan	Merlin	Redwing
Whooper Swan	Moorhen	Mistle Thrush
Pink-footed Goose	Coot	Blackbird
Greylag Goose	Oystercatcher	Goldcrest
Canada Goose	Golden Plover	Wren
Shelduck	Lapwing	Great Tit
Mallard	Redshank	Coal Tit
Gadwall	Black-tailed Godwit	Blue Tit
Pintail	Bar-tailed Godwit	Long-tailed Tit
Shoveler	Curlew	Nuthatch
Wigeon	Snipe	Treecreeper
Teal	Ruff	Magpie
Pochard	Black-headed Gull	Jay
Scaup	Common Gull	Jackdaw
Tufted Duck	Herring Gull	Rook
Goosander	Great Black-backed Gull	Carrion Crow
Pheasant	Lesser Black-backed Gull	Starling
Little Grebe	Woodpigeon	House Sparrow
Great-crested Grebe	Collared Dove	Chaffinch
Cormorant	Kingfisher	Linnet
Little Egret	Great Spotted Woodpecker	Goldfinch
Great White Egret	Skylark	Greenfinch
Grey Heron	Meadow Pipit	Siskin
Marsh Harrier	Pied Wagtail	Bullfinch
Hen Harrier	Dunnock	Reed Bunting
Sparrowhawk	Stonechat	Corn Bunting
Buzzard	Robin
Kestrel	Song Thrush

Recorder: NH                                   Total Species: 82