2016 was a year in which my bird-watching and my blogging activities both suffered greatly due to me taking on employment, and as a result entries have been a bit sparse of late.

In this post, I am adding a few ‘life list’ sightings that may have been neglected elsewhere.

The first is timely: on a New Year’s Eve trip to Martin Mere, we quickly spotted a drake Red-crested Pochard that had been seen the day before, and briefly on the Mere on the day of our visit. The bird was showing nicely (but distantly) at the back of the water in front of the Harrier hide, hanging out with Common Pochard and Tufties. The bird had a female-type bill, not the bright red of a typical male, and I’m not 100% sure whether this means it’s a first-winter bird or perhaps has a bit of Common Pochard in its lineage.

Also over the Christmas period: a blue-phase Lesser Snow Goose has been in residence at Marshside, and I had good views whilst on hide duty on Christmas Eve. Photos to follow, perhaps. Also at Marshside, the long-staying Glossy Ibis was replaced with first one, then as many as five Cattle Egrets. These have moved further afield now that the cattle have moved on, but remain in the Southport area.

Other life ticks that I can think of include:

  • a Tree Pipit at Foulshaw Moss in the early summer
  • an autumn Rock Pipit at Lunt Meadows
  • a male Redstart in the spring at Lunt Meadows
  • Crossbills on Birkdale Dunes
  • Black Terns at Marshside
  • A small group of Dotterel on the fields between Mere Sands Wood and Martin Mere

I’ve added a few more birds on this post that I want to be sure are included on my location lists for Marshside and Martin Mere.

I didn’t have a great year on the dragonfly front, with it being a wet and windy spring and not getting out as much in the summer. However, we did finally see white-faced darters at Foulshaw Moss, and small red-eyed Damselflies on the River Nene at Higham Ferrers.

New Year’s Resolutions: get out more, and blog more!