How much would you pay?

Its that time of year when I pay my annual visit to Martin Mere. I blogged about a visit there last year and said how good it could be. Although today wasn't the worst day I've had there, it wasn't the best. Lots of Teal, Wigeon and Pintail, plenty geese, numerous Swans and a couple of Marsh Harriers. Great. But, with the possible exception of the Harriers, nothing I couldn't have seen at Marshside RSPB or Burton Mere. Chances are I could have seen a bit more at Marshside or Burton - maybe a Short-eared Owl, or a Merlin, chance of a Twite at Marshide too. Now, none of this would have really bothered me except that when the friendly volunteer asked me if I wanted to pay the gift aid price for my entry, they quoted me £14 (£12.72 if not gift aided). It doesn't really matter whether its £12 or £14, I only wanted a half day birding. Another 20 mins in the car and I'd have been at Marshide where it would have cost me nothing as this site is free to visit. I chose Martin Mere as I do like to support the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust a couple of times a year and have been visiting for as long as I can remember, so its a bit of a habit. But this is getting silly. There is no way I'll be going back and paying £12 plus for entry. I know I could join - its £50 and thats reasonable I suppose, and I know they do amazing work. But the thing is theres not another WWT reserve for over 100 miles so its not like I'm going to be nipping off to one every weekend. So, £50 is just not worth it. But neither is £12.72. I felt ripped off. I accept this would have given me a day round the collection or the canoe safari if I'd wanted, but Ive been there and done that (and you have to pay extra for the safari too), and I just wanted to visit the hides and see the wild birds.  I'm sorry WWT but at that price I won't be back in a rush. If it was £6 or £7 then I'd probably do two or three trips plus per year but not at the current rate. Is that reasonable or am I being tight? What would you pay?

Anyway, at 1pm I was off. A Hooded Crow had been found literally 10mins walk from where I live and it is a Greater Manchester mega and would be a GM tick. I also wanted to get to the gull roost at Pennington Flash. I dipped on the crow - its been around for 2 months according to a dog walker so I'm hoping I'll see it another day. The gull roost was a bit more successful. No white winged gulls but the 2nd Winter Caspian put in another appearance, so I added this to my GM list instead!

Caspian Gull Phoneskoped at Pennington Flash