A Visit to Martin Mere

Hello everyone!  It's Endon Bear here, with a little post about a visit we made on the way to our friend Mr Robert's birthday surprise in Blackpool.

Polar and Grizzly stopped at a place called Parbold for their lunch, where they knew there was a nice pub because they visited once before on Uppie before they had us bears with them.  We had a quick look at the Leeds and Liverpool Canal after lunch, then set off for another special place.

We were going to visit the bird sanctuary at Martin Mere, as Polar and Grizzly support the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.  Polar wanted to take her big camera in with her, so we bears decided that most of us would stay in the car and have naps, but I could go in with our human guardians to see the birds.

First, we had a cup of tea in the nice little cafe overlooking the big pond beside the visitor centre, and Polar pointed out a Whooper Swan and a Bewick Swan, and explained that you can tell them apart because Whoopers are bigger and have a bigger beak.

There are dozens of different species of duck to see too.  Some of the most colourful are the Mandarin Ducks (which we sometimes see on ponds around our area) and the American Wood Duck, which is so brightly marked it looks like a painted wooden decoy duck!

I was sad that we weren't allowed to feed any of the ducks or geese, but Polar explained that there is a very nasty disease called Bird Flu affecting wild birds at the moment, which was why we had to walk on a disinfectant mat when we came onto the site, and use hand/paw sanitiser when we went through the gates between compounds.

We did see some of the geese being fed, although there was a big flock of wild mallard ducks trying to steal their seed!  Then Polar showed me another swan, the biggest one of all, which is a Trumpeter Swan from North America.

Near the Trumpeter Swans' pond I spotted some bears!  They had such friendly faces, I went over to make friends and give them hugs, but found they were made of wood.

Then it was time to see the otters being fed.  There is a pair of otters here, with a lovely, big pond and nice shelters built into a little hill that they can hide in, so the best time to see them is when they come out for their fish tea.  The humans who look after them hide the fish inside bamboo tubes, so the otters have to do some thinking and exercising to get to them.

Otters are very clever, so it didn't take them long to get to their tea!

There was just time for us to go to one of the hides that overlook the big mere (lake) where the wild birds come in.  We thought we might see big flocks of whooper swans, but it was probably a little too early in the year to see them.

We did see some cormorants and lapwings, and Polar liked taking pictures of the cloudscapes.  She says West Lancashire is "Big Sky Country", like Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and a great place for photographing clouds.

On the way out, we saw there was a Stuffie adoption centre, where you could adopt fluffy baby owls, badgers and hedgehogs, or even little falcons.  I wondered if Polar would adopt a new friend for us, but the Bear Bag was already quite crowded, because we were taking Stella Bear with us to the ballroom in Blackpool, so it was probably best that they stayed at Martin Mere for now.

As you'll know if you've read Sonning's post, we had a super time with our friends in Southport and Blackpool.  I think we might let Stella tell you about our journey home, as we stopped somewhere that she and Hanley Bear, being Science Bears really like.