Leighton Moss

Cock pheasants squaring off

After three days' domestic duties I was desperate for a day out so I got an old man's explorer ticket and went for a visit to Leighton Moss. Lancashire's in Tier 3, same as Greater Manchester, so all the hides were closed and a visit's limited to the Sky Tower, the path around the feeding stations and the causeway. This, and the bleak weather, seems to have put people off visiting; it was easily the best day's birdwatching I've had there in years!

There was a good omen as the train passed by the pools by the Eric Morecambe Hide: a great white egret feeding in the shallows by the railway embankment. The train flushed it, and a mixed flock of teal and wigeon, and they flew out onto the pool, returning almost immediately as the train passed.

Blue tit
(I was surprised by just how blue this individual was!)

There weren't many people about the visitor centre, what was lacking in people was more than made up in birds. There's been a lot of tree-felling since my last minute, they've had to do it in response to ash wilt disease. As a consequence it's a lot more open, which feels a bit strange. There are plenty enough other trees to provide height and cover and I should think the undergrowth will have more than filled the gaps by this time next year.

The feeding stations were busy with house sparrows, finches and titmice. There were dozens of chaffinches, goldfinches and greenfinches were in single figures. It's nice to see marsh tits within minutes of my arrival, Leighton Moss is the only place I can reliably get to see them these days.

I could only see the pool by Lilian's Hide from the Sky Tower. Lots of teal, gadwall and mallard, a couple of mute swans, a family group of dabchicks. A lot of black-headed gulls milled about and more flew over, commuting between the salt marsh and the causeway pool. Strangely enough, no coots. A marsh harrier made a close pass so quickly that by the time I had my camera in my hand it had flown off over my shoulder and over the trees.

Walking along the path from Lilian's Hide to the roadside my way was blocked by a couple of cock pheasants squaring up for a fight they never got round to having before wandering off into the undergrowth by the brook.

I didn't see a soul as I walked along the boardwalk through the reedbed to the causeway. A family of marsh tits flitted about in the willows, another mixed tit flock tagged along at a distance. I could hear bullfinches but didn't see any. By the time I'd arrived at the causeway I felt thoroughly guilty having been mugged repeatedly by begging robins and me with nothing to give them.

The causeway

The causeway was very quiet, both of people and birds. I'd arrived late for much hopes of seeing bearded tits and the promising noises I kept hearing in the distance probably owed more to wishful thinking that dry reeds cracking in the wind.

Cormorants and heron

The causeway pool was covered in coots, there must have been a couple of hundred of them. A few dozen each of gadwall and tufted ducks fed in groups by the reeds, some of them accompanied by wigeon and mallard. A herd of mute swans included just the one first-Winter bird. A dozen cormorants loafed on the island in the company of an oystercatcher, a lapwing and a heron. A couple of great black-backs (a pair, I think) sat on the water, the ducks and black-headed gulls keeping a wide berth from them.

Great black-back and black-headed gull

A passing tractor scared up half a dozen snipe which flew up from the causeway and disappeared into the reeds over by the Lower Hide. A couple more marsh harriers rose up and flew low over the reedbeds and a buzzard flew low over the water and into the trees by the road. None of these raised any upset with the birds on the pool, unlike the great black-back that flew in and was swiftly barracked back out again by the pair sitting on the water. This kerfuffle disturbed a Cetti's warbler near the screens by the hide, it flew into deeper cover and started singing.

The boardwalk through the reeds to the causeway

On the walk back along the boardwalk I tried to ignore the robins. They tried to make sure I couldn't. I was startled by a water rail that darted across the path and disappeared into the reads. And I finally caught up with the bullfinches.

Cumbria's in Tier 2 so I couldn't get a train and move on past Arnside towards Barrow as usual. I considered stopping off at Carnforth and having a walk down to Pine Lake to see if the ring-necked duck was about but the weather was closing in a couple of hours earlier than scheduled so I decided give it a pass this time. It had been a very good day's birdwatching and I didn't want to take the edge off it at all. It looks like the bird's back for the Winter again so I can catch up with it another time.

There was still light enough as the train home slowed to a crawl on the approach to the bend by Golborne Dale for me to appreciate the six buzzards digging for worms in the field by the track.