Marbury Country Park  12^th November 2011.

Once again the Rochdale Field Naturalists were favoured with lovely weather for their monthly coach trip, this time visiting Marbury Country Park in Cheshire.  On arrival at the park, the group was met by one of the wardens, who provided a variety of information leaflets and maps, outlined the flora and fauna likely to be seen at this time of year and the best locations to find them and answered our questions about the park and its wildlife.

Initially the party divided into two groups, with one going first to the Arboretum and the other to the bird hide overlooking Budworth Mere.  In the Arboretum, which is a mixed woodland with a wide range of native and non-native species, visitors were rewarded with a beautiful display of autumn colours and the discovery of many different fungi.  The fungi seen included various species of Inkcaps, Buttercap, Wood Blewit, Clouded Funnel, White Dome Cap and Stump Puffball.

The view from the bird hide was wonderful with the sun sparkling on the water and highlighting the colours of the many Great crested grebes swimming and diving there.  The group was also entertained by the antics of a bank vole and the birds, such as Nuthatch, Great tits and Coal tits, visiting the bird feeders and, just as they were departing, a Sparrowhawk swooped past.

The walk for both groups continued alongside the Mere and through mixed woodland, dappled by autumn colours, with sightings of more fungi and many birds. Members were delighted to see Goldcrests, Treecreepers, Greater spotted woodpecker and Green woodpecker, but unfortunately not the elusive Lesser spotted woodpecker.  

After a lunch stop in a woodland glade, the walk continued to Neumann’s Flash and Haydn’s Pool where there were good sightings of Snipe, Golden Plover, Teal and Goosander, a Buzzard surveying the scene from its perch high up in the trees and Fieldfares and Redwings in flight.  It was also pleasing to see a few remaining signs of summer such as dragonflies, butterflies and ladybirds and a number of flowers, such as Tansy, Red Campion and Daisy, still in bloom.

The day ended with a view of the restored and operational  Anderton Boat Lift and the opportunity for refreshment  at the café overlooking the canal there before the journey home.

 HS.

Sightings List

Click on Thumbnail to see full size image

Avenue of trees at Marbury	Grey Heron
Common Bonnet (Mycena galericulata)	Upright Coral (Ramaria stricta)

Images by Peter Stevens, Rick Cowley and Steve Pinnington