Leighton Moss

Siskin

The spadgers were late for breakfast so the coal tits and long-tailed tits got an early look-in at the fat feeders. It had been a frosty night so the gulls were all parked on the roofs of the school buildings waiting for the playing field to thaw enough to be worth tapping for earthworms.

It was going to be a bright sunny day so I decided to have a lunchtime wander round Leighton Moss then as the spirit bade me in the afternoon.

The train journey up to Silverdale was straightforward. There were a couple of buzzards on Croxden's Moss as we passed and there was another one at the other end of the line on Carnforth Marsh. I didn't see any raptors whatever at Leighton Moss today, which is unusual.

As the train pulled in the coastal pools were busier than on my last visit. Most of the ducks were wigeon and teal with a few mallards and shovelers. A great white egret left the embankment and slowly flew low over the pools. There no waders about, not surprising given it was low tide.

Spring was in the air at Silverdale Station with coal tits, dunnocks, robins and robins in full song. Round the corner at the entrance to Leighton Moss a collared dove was singing and a chaffinch assayed a few trills.

Arriving at Leighton Moss

The reserve was busy but not madly so and I tried not to linger in the hides. I was about to write: "All the usual suspects were on the feeders by the 'hideout,'" but I didn't see a greenfinch all day.

From Lilian's Hide

Greylags

Teal

The most conspicuous birds on the pool at Lilian's Hide were the noisy flock of greylags on the far side. The teals, shovelers and snipe dozing by the near bank were very quiet. There was half a dozen each of pintail, tufted duck and gadwall over to the left-hand side in the company of a couple of dozen coots. A splash halfway between them and me turned out to be a female goldeneye.

Marsh tit

The mixed tit flock on the path to the reedbed hides played a blinder today. Even the marsh tits were posing for the camera. A goldcrest in the drowned willows was a lot more fidgety but that tends to be their way amongst a crowd of titmice.

The wet railings steamed in the sunshine

Snipe

There wasn't a lot on at the Tim Jackson Hide, a few teals and mallards. Griesdale Hide was busier: lots of teal and mallards, a dozen each of pintail and shoveler and an island packed with snipe. Water rails were calling by the entrances to both hides but I was probably too unnerved by their bloodcurdling squeals to be able to spot them.

Drowned willows

Walking back a skein of greylags flew low over the reeds, noisy and intimidating. The tit flock in the drowned willows were joined by a couple of reed buntings and a treecreeper. A flock of redwings flew into the treetops by the railway line.

Treecreeper

The alders by the stream by the visitor centre were heaving with siskins glinting bright citrus shades in the sunshine.

Siskin

Siskin

Siskin

I checked the train times and connections and decided to play safe with a return trip to Ulverston to have a look over the Kent and Leven estuaries. I'll take a day out sometime to have a trip out to Pine Lake and Morecambe, the revised train timetables and disruption caused by the pandemic don't allow a lot by the way of safety nets at Lancaster. (Note to self: have another look at the local bus networks.)

Low tide at Arnside so very few gulls about and a few wigeons, curlews and redshanks on the mud. There wasn't a lot on the marshes between Meathop and Kent's Bank besides carrion crows and woodpigeons.

The marsh between Cark and the Leven was busier, with crowds of rooks and jackdaws giving way to flocks of feeding shelducks. There were more wigeons, curlews and redshanks with a few teal on the river.

I had twenty minutes' wait for the Manchester train at Ulverston. As well as the usual assemblage of rooftop herring gulls a mixed tit flock worked its way through the shrubs by the trackside, accompanied by a bullfinch. 

Kent's Bank

There were more wigeons on the landward side of the track over the Leven as well as a couple of diving ducks I couldn't identify. The drains by the fields between Meathop and the Kent were full of teal. The last highlight of the day was a great white egret with the mute swans and little egrets on the reedbed pools opposite the coastal pools at Leighton Moss.

A really nice day, bringing the year list to 95.