Reserve View at Martin Mere, 28/01/11

This part of the reserve had large numbers of wild Whooper Swans, along with Greylag and Pink-footed Geese, ducks including Mallard, Tufted Duck, Common Pochard, Common Goldeneye, Common Shelduck and Common Teal, and waders such as Ruff and Northern Lapwing.

Great collection of photographs is this reserve open all year round and are the public allowed to get close to the birds or are they only allowed in hides.

The reserve is accessible all year - indeed winter is probably the best time to go as the waterfowl will be much more scarce in the summer - in particular the huge flocks of Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Geese are only winter visitors. The captive waterfowl, flamingo, cranes, otters and beavers are of course present year-round!

The viewing of the wild birds on the reserve is almost exclusively from the hides. There are great views though - these birds (near the Raines Observatory) are only a few feet away. All the birds shown here are wild, of course, so free to go whereever they please! Most of the captive waterfowl area is large walkthrough pens where children can feed the ducks and suchlike.

Looks like this is a must visit later in the year towards december time

The best spectacles are the skeins of pinkfeet flying in - if you're lucky you'll see them whiffle. The whoopers are a close second - I love the sound. But I also like watching for the dabchicks in the drainage channels and the tree sparrows. There are usually buzzards and peregrines around in winter, with occasional harriers and merlins too.

Alan

I agree Alan-the pink footed geese flying in over the car park at night is a truly magical moment. On my last visit we were also treated to anotehr wildlife spectacle-starling going to roost which was fantastic.

gentle lemur said:

The best spectacles are the skeins of pinkfeet flying in - if you're lucky you'll see them whiffle. The whoopers are a close second - I love the sound. But I also like watching for the dabchicks in the drainage channels and the tree sparrows. There are usually buzzards and peregrines around in winter, with occasional harriers and merlins too.

Alan

Click to expand...

Perhaps oddly we saw no raptors at all, but there were some nice passerines - Tree Sparrow, Brambling and Reed Bunting among others.

Also a tapping noise above our heads turned out to be a very bold Greater Spotted Woodpecker - didn't photograph quite as nicely as I'd hoped, but we got a great view.