DEESIDE NATURALISTS SOCIETY
FIELD TRIP
MERE SANDS WOOD & WWT MARTIN MERE RESERVE

16th.January 2010.

The drive up to Mere Sands Wood at Rufford was pleasant and without incident, the sky was clear and the predicted rain and high wind did not materialise, we were in for a decent day.
Mere Sands Wood is a well laid out medium sized reserve just over a mile out of Rufford on the B5246. Parking is ?2.00 per car and there is no entrance fee. Ice still covered most of the lakes but waterfowl was still to be seen, mallards,teal,moorhen and coot went about their daily business without a care and a solitary heron watched us through his beady yellow eye.
A group of four male bullfinches brought a splash of vivid pink to a feeding station whilst tree sparrows pecked at the ground for any dropped morsel. A woodpecker could be heard drumming and calling in the distance but it was not until we got back to the visitor's centre that he put in an appearance. Looking across the ploughed fields along the edge of the reserve we watched mistle thrushes and redwings as they hunted for food and a charm of 36 goldfinches flew up from one of the ruts to perch out of danger in the high branches of a nearby silver birch.
The day was warm enough for us to eat our packed lunches at the tables provided outside the centre and from here we watched reed bunting, great, blue and coal tits feeding from the nut dispensers.
After lunch we headed off for Martin Mere a further 3 miles along the road. From the Raines hide we could see Whooper swans in their hundreds and although we knew there were some Bewick's swans in amongst them we never did get to identifying them, on the day!
At 15:00 the wardens feed the swans along the front of Swan Lake hide, the noise was deafening but well worth the experience. One Whooper swan we picked out had a yellow leg ring identifying the individual as NA3, a closer look also revealed that the bird had a small tracking device attached to its back, the antennae clearly visible. We inquired about the tracking device and learned that a number of swans had been tagged so that their flight path between Iceland and UK could be plotted. I have since searched the WWT website but can find no mention of this individual.
Apart from swans there were also greylag and white fronted geese, good numbers of shellduck (with one ruddy shell duck hidden amongst them it was like a page from a "Where's Wally" book).
After a large mug of steaming coffee it was time to make our way home.
The icing on the cake came as we drove along towards Southport, sat on a fence post was a little owl.
In all we saw 48 species.

At my PC the next day I meticulously scrutinized the photos taken at Martin Mere and eventually identified two Bewick's swans.

UPDATE
Since publishing this report I have heard that the Whooper swan NA3 was ringed in Iceland in 2003 and regularly winters at Martin Mere. It left Iceland on 3rd.November 2009 and arrived at Martin Mere on 5th. There has been no record of its mate 4YU
Many thanks to those who enjoyed the day.

The next field trip is to Hale Village on 13th.February.

Ron Plummer

Whooper Swan NA3

Find the Bewick's

Mere Sands Wood