Lancashire

[Alanjns]

I live in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, and my local patch is Marton Mere; a site of special scientific interest for its birds such as Water Rails, Bitterns, Marsh Harriers, Ospreys, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, numerous ducks, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, Long-eared Owls and so on, and a number of species of Bats, Bees, Dragonflies & Moths, Butterflies (Common Blue, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown) and Orchids such as Bee Orchids.

The Mere is situated on the eastern edge of Blackpool, about 4 miles from the town centre and provides open water, reed beds, grassland, scrub and woodland, It also neighbours farmland. The mere is surrounded by footpaths and several hides.

In the last two months at the Mere I have seen; Robin, Blackbird, Blue tit, Coal tit, Great tit, Long-tailed tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Great spotted Woodpecker, Pheasant, Collared dove, Woodpigeon, Pigeon (feral), Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Stonechat, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Kestrel, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Canada geese, Greylag geese, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted duck, Pochard, Shoveler, Coot, Moorhen, Lapwing, Long-eared Owls, Common gull, Black-headed gull, Lesser black-backed gull and Great crested grebe.

Stanley Park is also nearby - a large municipal park with a lake, Heronry and woodland. The sea front at Blackpool is great for gulls, oystercatchers and other waders and there is the Ribble estuary to the south and the Wyre & the Lune estuaries to the north, with Morcambe bay a little further on.

I'm new to birdwatching - just coming up to a year, and hope to significantly increase my list - the Bitterns would be a treat.

Would love to hear from others who have visited the Mere and about other patches in Lancashire.

Regards,

Alan

[AndyB]

Hi Alan, I've been to Marton Mere a couple of times but it was almost 20 years ago, looking for an American Bittern that failed to show for me each time and is grippingly photographed by Marcus Lawson on page 2 of these Marton Mere photos:
http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/search2.cgi?location=marton%20mere
Actually, until I did this photo search I had no idea just how many astonishingly rare birds have turned up at your lovely patch!

[Alanjns]

Hi Andy,

It's nice to hear from someone from across the pond that has visited our little pond here in Blackpool (lol).

I shall definately be trying my hardest to see a Bittern before the year is out, but don't hold your breath - it took me 18 months to find the Long-eared Owls!

Seriously though, I've only been birdwatching for a year, so anything I see is a joy & I'm so lucky to live just a 15 minute walk from the Mere.

Thanks for dropping by.

Regards,

Alan

[Alanjns]

I decided to have a quick wander around my local park today, as the wind and the rain seemed to be finally letting up, and I was really glad that I did because I finally saw the Goldcrest that has been visiting the park for the last few weeks and everyone has been talking about.

It was difficult getting a photo as it was constantly flitting from one branch to another, but it stayed on the same group of trees in front of me, letting me get good views of it for about 15 minutes. A lovely little bird that has made my day and is also a life tick:laugh:

There were all the usual visitors in the park and I saw many Black-headed gulls, Herring gulls and quite a few Cormorants. The Heronry looked full, and I believe there are a couple of chicks in one of the nests already, but I have been unable to see them today. There was also a couple of Treecreepers, lots of Blue tits, Great tits & Long-tailed tits, Woodpigeons as well as feral Pigeons, Mallards, Tufted ducks, Greylag & Canada geese, Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds and Crows. I was suprised not to see any Song Thrush - maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough.

[Colin Key]

Hello Alan,

You have some nice images there. Having looked at the selection you have posted in the gallery I would suggest that you limit the image size to 800 pixels maximum dimension; the software on the forum automatically produces a downsized (and down-rezzed) version of your uploaded image - if you "click for larger image" it simply expands the smaller one and you will get lower resolution and image quality.

I reprocessed the Blue Tit (gorgeous shot) by slightly altering "shadows & highlights", colour sarturation, brightness and contrast, applied a bit of noise reduction ("Neat Image"), reduced image size to 800 pxls and then slightly sharpened before saving as a maximum quality JPEG:

http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/Bluetit.jpg

I think it looks better then the one in the gallery, you might not agree!!

Colin

[Alanjns]

Hi Colin,

Your image looks much better, thanks.

I do normally process my images, but unfortunately my computer has broken and I need a new one. It will be a couple of months before I can replace it.

In the mean time I'm using an ancient, just about functioning desktop that has a very basic image editing software. It wont even let me install new software as it's not recognising disks, it's very frustrating.

Hopefully in a couple of months I can resume posting stunning images:laugh:

Regards,

Alan

[Keith Russell]

Hi

Interested to read about your experiences at Marton Mere. I too am new to birding started last september. Ive visited Marton mere once and was impressed also saw my first Sedge warbler and White Throat there !

I live a little further south in Southport. My local patch is Marshside RSPB reserve , Martin Mere , Ainsdale and birkdale beaches, Formby Point, Mere Sands woods and Plex Moss ( the moss to the east of Ainsdale.) All these are good sites. Anyone wanting to get to grips with this area would be wise to visit John Dempseys Birdblog that focuses on this area.

As I say Ive only being birding less than a year and am very much a novice but ive started putting my pictures online at www.krbirdphotography.co.uk if anyone wants to see what has turned up for me mostly in my local areas.