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TOPIC: Marshside and Lunt Meadows

sarfraz

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Posts: 1533

Date: Wed Nov 2 10:34 PM, 2022

Marshside and Lunt Meadows

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Marshside has been on good form over the last 6 months in relation to rare birds. In Spring a Black Winged Stilt appeared and stayed a few days followed by a Broad Billed Sandpiper. I am sure other rarities would have been recorded. Autumn has been as interesting if not more. A Buff Breasted Sandpiper was located and on the same day an American Wigeon was seen and a report of a Yellow Browed Warbler. A week or so later a Lesser Yellowlegs was photographed probably the same bird that was seen at Leighton Moss a few days ago. A couple of days off from work over half term and a trip was arranged. Andy Young who has not been well over the last year was feeling healthy enough to have a trip out. Phillip was also ready.

I slept through my alarm in the morning. A great start! On arrival we realised that the Lesser Yellowlegs was at Cross Inner Marsh so we drove back up and parked on Crossens Way. A quick walk up the path and there it was. I couldn't help but think how elegant and dainty this American wader was. Phillip and I had never seen one before and Andy had had a few! It was a lot larger than I expected. It was interesting how elegant and dainty this bird was for a fairly large wader. It flew closer to the fence right in front of us and strutted around looking for food. I did spend quite a long time looking at the bird but it was time to move on.

We drove back to the car park and not long after we arrived at the visitor centre, Andy picked up a Merlin. Some moments later a raptor was spotted sitting on a pole and without much thinking I thought it was a Merlin and told 3 people in the hide including a couple who had never seen one before. A few more looks and it dawned on me it looked more like a Buzzard. I had ignored the hints it was larger and put 2 and 2 together and come up with 17. I corrected myself and told the couple it in fact wasn't a Merlin - birding faux pas of the year for me!

We looked for the Greater Scaup but no sign of it sadly. We had a walk around and enjoyed the thousands of birds that were here - Pink Footed Geese, Wigeon, Teal visited in internationally important numbers. It took a while seeing a Little Egret but we managed to see over 10 eventually and a few Great White Egrets. Hundreds of Golden Plovers wheeled around. In the distance large flocks of waders flew. The birds were jumpy. We saw:-

Greylag

Canada Goose

Pink Footed Goose

Mallard

Pintail

Gadwall

Shoveler

Teal

Wigeon

Little Grebe

Cormorant

Grey Heron

Great White Egret

Little Egret

Buzzard

Marsh Harrier

Kestrel

Coot

Moorhen

Lesser Yellowlegs

Snipe

Ruff

Lapwing

Curlew

Black Tailed Godwit

Great Black Backed Gull

Herring Gull

Lesser Black Backed Gull

Black Headed Gull

Woodpigeon

Feral Pigeon

Skylark

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Wren

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Robin

Stonechat

Carrion Crow

Magpie

Jackdaw

House Sparrow

Goldfinch

Linnet

Reed Bunting

Next step was Lunt Meadows, a Lancashire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve 25 minutes away. There was no cafe so we made do with a Greggs along the way. This was the first time both Andy and Phillip were visiting so I hoped it would leave a nice impression. It was my first autumn visit. Lunt was attracting good numbers of waterfowl and in 2021 had Lancashire's first breeding Bitterns away from Leighton Moss. Sadly this was not replicated in 2022. Marsh Harriers were breeding too. Barn Owls and Short Eared Owls could be seen fairly closely most winters. We had a good walk around visiting the various hides and viewpoints. The lowland wetland and meadows had a nice open effect. Not long after we arrived we saw the young male Ring Necked Duck against the vegetation, alone. We had to have a good discussion on the ID but we were certain with it's funny head shape. This species was a first for Phillip, a second for me and one of several for Andy who was the only member of the trip who saw Rossendale Ring Necked Duck in the 1990s. We told a local in a hide and he mentioned it was the first sighting for a few days! There were quite a few Kestrels around - we were told 6 but maybe over 10. Another bird which hit double figures but one we saw very few of were Cetti's Warblers. They were calling at nearly every point of the reserve - I wasn't surprised but for Andy spread of Cetti's Warbler was an eye opener considering he remembers the days you had to go to Dorset to see one. It is always nice to go to a reserve which has nice open landscapes as well as being free to park up at. A visitor was being planned so I had heard on the grapevine -would that mean a cafe and cake?

Mute Swan