Leighton Moss

Leighton Moss

As it was a nice sunny day I thought I'd get an old man's rail rover ticket and bob up to Leighton Moss to pick up where I left off last Monday. The clouds rolled in at Carnforth so I had a largely murky day of it.

Marsh tit

Two of my most likely targets were easy enough to find: two marsh tits were feeding by the Hideout and a female marsh harrier floated across the back of the reeds at Lilian's Hide. A snipe flying overhead and a water rail by the path towards Griesdale Hide added to the year list but try as I might I couldn't turn any of the goldfinches on the alders into redpolls. Serves me right for being greedy.

Wigeon

Although it didn't feel like there were huge numbers of ducks about there were plenty of teal, wigeon, shovelers and pintails on the pools. There were also a couple of goldeneye and a small raft of tufted ducks on Lilian's, together with a few gadwall and a couple of dabchicks. Overhead there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing by small flocks of greyalgs but none of them landed.

A group of pintails were bathing in front of the Griesdale Hide.

Pintail

Pintails

Pintail

Pintail

Pintail

Pintail

The great white egret here was keeping its distance.

Great white egret

Getting some of my money's worth out of my rail ticket I got the train from Silverdale to Barrow. The sun setting over the low tide of the Kent Estuary at Arnside was lovely. There was still a fair light by the time we got to the Leven Estuary, a flock of wigeon were feeding on the mud close to the line and a drake red-breasted merganser was swimming along one of the nearby channels. By the time we got to Barrow it was twilight and the herring gulls and jackdaws were going home to roost.