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Martin Mere, Wildfowl And Wetlands Trust, Lancashire, England - 03 April 2004 Martin Mere is a bird sanctuary near Liverpool. The sanctuary is managed by The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust of Britain. Though small, it had excellent visitor facilities, and hides for viewing the birds, both captive and wild. Lesser Flamingoes are captured, ringed and their migration is tracked with satellite, and ringed flamingoes have been found to travel upto East Africa. Of raptors, the trust boasted of Peregrine Falcons and Harriers, but I wasn't lucky enough to sight any of them. In order to test the new camera and take some shots, I went to Martin Mere. To reach Martin Mere, I took a train at Liverpool Central station, and at Ormskirk changed trains, alighted at Burscough junction, and after an hour's walk through a countryside of green pastures with sheep and horses, reached Martin Mere at midday. The weather was not very good, and the sky was overcast with clouds, and there were light showers now and then. I spent 4 hours at Martin Mere, saw and learnt to identify some British birds. There were a huge number of Lesser Flamingoes, Mallards, Shelducks, Whooper and Bewick's Swans, Snow Geese, and many other varieties of ducks. Outside the captive area also wildfowl were aplenty in the ponds maintained by the trust. Captive birds that I identified were: Mallards Shelducks Snow Geese Flamingoes Ruddy Shelducks Bar Headed Geese Whooper Swans Bewick's Swans Wild birds: Mallard Shelduck Pheasant Blackbird Blue Rock Pigeons Common Sandpiper Moorhen Black Headed Gull Herring Gull Lesser Blackbacked Gull Robin Magpie Tree Sparrow Light wasn't favourable for shooting; however I took a number of shots. After processing, I plan to display the photos in the album section. At 4pm, I left Martin Mere, and boarding the train at Burscough junction at 5.30pm, was back in Liverpool by 7pm. Written: April 09, 2004