IanF
Moderator
Saturday 5th June saw a sunny start to the day so we decided to have a ride down to Holker Hall near Grange-over-Sands to visit the garden festival being held that weekend. That was our intention but on arrival the admission charge at £12.00 per adult seemed a bit steep so we gave it a miss and carried onto Grange, a very pleasant little town which even had a small bird reserve holding numerous exotic species of ducks and geese. Whilst it was nice to see them, the extreme wing clipping obviously to keep them in place seemed cruel as well as being unsightly.
As we intended visiting RSPB Leighton Moss during our stay and being in that part of the world we headed on down there instead – timing it nicely to be there a couple of hours before the 13.50 high tide. Being a Saturday the place was pretty busy with two coaches and the car park almost full. As it was a nice day everyone was well spread out over the reserve and numbers of people was never a problem.
The staff were very friendly and helpful about what birds had been seen where, though things had been a little quiet that week. There was an impressive list of recent sightings on display in the centre.
For anyone who hasn’t been before and plans on visiting, the attached plan may be of interest.
On leaving the Visitor centre we headed on down to the Tim Jackson Hide where on our last visit we had superb close views of a Bittern. Unfortunately none were about that day and we only saw Swift, Mallard, Coot, Greenfinch, Linnet, Shelduck and Black-headed Gull. A Red Deer provided additional entertainment.
A few yards further on was the Grisedale Hide which the staff had told us was the most likely place to come across Bearded Tit but even there they are hard to spot. Needless to say we didn’t see any. However it’s also the best place to view the Marsh Harriers from and sure enough three of them put on superb hunting and flying displays. We spent quite a while sat just watching them. Others birds on the ponds included Coot, Gadwall, Shelduck, Moorhen, Mallard, Shoveler, Swift, Lapwing, Heron, Mute Swan and Greylag Goose.
As we retraced our steps back to Lilian’s Hide beside the Visitor Centre one of the Marsh Harriers followed, circling overhead for quite a while before heading off over the ridge to the west of the reserve. Just following the paths through the reserve yielded Wren, Chaffinch, Sedge Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Reed Bunting, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Robin, Treecreeper, Willow Tit, Dunnock and a Toad! ( photo below ).
Lilian’s Hide is probably the show case hide on the reserve being quite large with plenty of seating and a large glass screened bay window area. Normally we do quite well with birds here and have seen Avocet there in the past. On this visit though, whilst there were plenty of birds we saw nothing out of the ordinary for us. The list comprised Mute Swan, Coot, BH Gull, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Shelduck, Greylag Goose, Lapwing, Gadwall, Swift, Crow, Ruddy Duck and Pochard.
As it was such a nice day we decided to venture on to the Public Hide. Here there were no end of BH Gulls many of which were nesting on the islands. Other birds included Ruddy Duck, Coot, Swift, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Cormorant, Mallard, Pochard, Great Crested Grebe and Tufted Duck.
We were tempted to walk the extra half mile to the Lower Hide, but as the staff had said there wasn’t much activity there other than a different set of Marsh Harrier nesting in that end of the reserve we instead retraced our steps back to the visitor centre and then the car. We drove the mile or so down to the coastal ponds and popped into the Allen Hide and Eric Morcambe Hide. Again loads of nesting BH Gull along with Shoveler, Shelduck, Lapwing, Canada Goose and disappointingly just one very distant Avocet.
That concluded our visit and we headed back north.
As we intended visiting RSPB Leighton Moss during our stay and being in that part of the world we headed on down there instead – timing it nicely to be there a couple of hours before the 13.50 high tide. Being a Saturday the place was pretty busy with two coaches and the car park almost full. As it was a nice day everyone was well spread out over the reserve and numbers of people was never a problem.
The staff were very friendly and helpful about what birds had been seen where, though things had been a little quiet that week. There was an impressive list of recent sightings on display in the centre.
For anyone who hasn’t been before and plans on visiting, the attached plan may be of interest.
On leaving the Visitor centre we headed on down to the Tim Jackson Hide where on our last visit we had superb close views of a Bittern. Unfortunately none were about that day and we only saw Swift, Mallard, Coot, Greenfinch, Linnet, Shelduck and Black-headed Gull. A Red Deer provided additional entertainment.
A few yards further on was the Grisedale Hide which the staff had told us was the most likely place to come across Bearded Tit but even there they are hard to spot. Needless to say we didn’t see any. However it’s also the best place to view the Marsh Harriers from and sure enough three of them put on superb hunting and flying displays. We spent quite a while sat just watching them. Others birds on the ponds included Coot, Gadwall, Shelduck, Moorhen, Mallard, Shoveler, Swift, Lapwing, Heron, Mute Swan and Greylag Goose.
As we retraced our steps back to Lilian’s Hide beside the Visitor Centre one of the Marsh Harriers followed, circling overhead for quite a while before heading off over the ridge to the west of the reserve. Just following the paths through the reserve yielded Wren, Chaffinch, Sedge Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Reed Bunting, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Robin, Treecreeper, Willow Tit, Dunnock and a Toad! ( photo below ).
Lilian’s Hide is probably the show case hide on the reserve being quite large with plenty of seating and a large glass screened bay window area. Normally we do quite well with birds here and have seen Avocet there in the past. On this visit though, whilst there were plenty of birds we saw nothing out of the ordinary for us. The list comprised Mute Swan, Coot, BH Gull, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Shelduck, Greylag Goose, Lapwing, Gadwall, Swift, Crow, Ruddy Duck and Pochard.
As it was such a nice day we decided to venture on to the Public Hide. Here there were no end of BH Gulls many of which were nesting on the islands. Other birds included Ruddy Duck, Coot, Swift, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Cormorant, Mallard, Pochard, Great Crested Grebe and Tufted Duck.
We were tempted to walk the extra half mile to the Lower Hide, but as the staff had said there wasn’t much activity there other than a different set of Marsh Harrier nesting in that end of the reserve we instead retraced our steps back to the visitor centre and then the car. We drove the mile or so down to the coastal ponds and popped into the Allen Hide and Eric Morcambe Hide. Again loads of nesting BH Gull along with Shoveler, Shelduck, Lapwing, Canada Goose and disappointingly just one very distant Avocet.
That concluded our visit and we headed back north.
