21st May 2010
The Duck Song [with a lemonade stand]
A
day at Martin Mere WWT Reserve started with a look around what I would term the
bird zoo. How it had changed since I first went there back in 1978. Then it was
a large expanse, almost devoid of trees. With large pools that in the winter
back in the Seventies had large numbers of Ruff which were able to be seen from
the comfort of the large windows of the reception centre.
The
Mere itself, away from the zoo, looked much the same despite the thirty year
plus interval. Maybe larger than before it still had a large number of wildfowl
to enjoy. Further along the pathway and past the Duckery, gone was the original
Miller's Bridge hide. Instead a larger double decker affair with the same views
though over large area of wet grassland and shallow lagoons.
To
get there I had gone past the Duckery nets and saw Tree Sparrows at the feeders
amongst the high trees. In this area there used to be Corn Buntings in the
hawthorns back in the 1970s.
Walking
back to the centre, coffee and cake was a treat in the new larger café built
over the water of the previous Ruff pool and then a walk to the Harrier hide;
so named because it literally is the shape of a very large open-winged Hen
Harrier. A brilliant hide with great views over a number of pools and grassland
areas. Not really the best time to visit the reserve but still extremely
enjoyable.
With
all hides visited and all paths walked and even an attempt being made at the
sleeping Beavers, to no avail sadly, I decided to leave and make my way to Hesketh
Bank RSPB Reserve, a new one that will take a number of years to reach it's
potential. It took me some time to find the way to it and even more time to
find the entrance. Eventually though by cycling along the large sea wall I came
across what looked like a large bus shelter on top of the extended sea wall.
This was for any visiting birder to enjoy the view of the immense muddy area
that constituted the reserve. A number of bulldozers must have scraped every
last bit of grass and soil from the fields that were once there and, in their place,
there were some shallow scraps, with bits of water and massive areas of mud.
The high sea wall around the whole area had been breached in a couple of places
and as Climate Change is due to increase sea levels, the reserve will achieve
its massive potential when the rise causes the area to be flooded by the adjacent
Ribble Estuary. The birds seen were Avocets and Redshanks mainly but I realised
that it would be great to return in a few years’ time to ring the changes.
Now
a strange yet comfortable place to sleep was on the bench along the inside of
the RSPB bus shelter. No bus would be calling here asking for a fare. In fact I
had not seen anyone so far out here on the Ribble Estuary.
Tickle My
Feathers
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