Martin Mere

There were thousands of Teal on Vinsons, and with them was a drake Green-winged Teal. On the mere there were about 26 Ruff, 300 Whooper Swans and a good selection of ducks, as well as about 4000 Pink-footed Geese on the adjacent fields. Birds around the feeders included Tree Sparrow, Reed Buntings, Chaffinches and Greenfinches. Next to the Janet Kear hide, somebody found a Woodcock on the ground.

Year 117


Two very different game birds (though I'm not sure that they see it as a game...). The cryptic Woodcock and the spectacular Pheasant. One relies on camouflague, the other, errr, doesn't.


Two beautiful ducks, Pintail and (Eurasian) Teal. I think that Teal is my favourite duck, it's wonderfully marked, plus I've got some happy  memories of seeing my first in Tatton Park when I was a youngster. Green-winged Teal is a North American species once regarded as a race of Teal, but now considered a seperate species. It differs from Teal in lacking the gold border on the head, between the green and the red, and in lacking the horizontal white line on the side of Teal. Most distinctive of all however, it has a vertical white line on the side of its breast.