Leighton Moss

Spoonbills

I've been meaning to have a trip out where I start by visiting the coastal hides at Leighton Moss first and then coming back for as much of a wander round the reserve as weather, energy and trains allow. The arrival of a long-billed dowitcher over the weekend gave me the necessary nudge. I reckoned I would have been roughly OK despite the weather forecast suggesting a degree of inclemency.

New Road

It was only raining slightly when I got off the train at Silverdale and started walking down to the hides. The rain was hard enough to keep the small birds under cover and the carrion crows and woodpigeons weren't looking jolly about it. The heavens opened as I approached the junction to New Road and all was quiet save the protests of damp sheep sheltering under the trees. The rain eased as I crossed the level crossing and suddenly the fields were full of hawking swallows.

I took the lane to the hides, the field by the car park was busy with rooks, lapwings and woodpigeons.

Lunchtime at the Eric Morecambe Hide 

I went straight to the Eric Morecambe Hide out of the rain which had decided to pelt down. There were quite a few people in the hide, despite the weather. I'd just missed the dowitcher, it had just disappeared into a channel over on the far bank. An hour and three quarters later it still hadn't turned up and I gave up. There was plenty else to be looking at in the meantime.

Black-tailed godwits in the gloom

Most of the waders were black-tailed godwits and redshanks with a supporting cast of oystercatchers and avocets. The godwits were in a dazzling array of plumages ranging all the way from breeding ginger through juvenile dun brown to a few Winter greys. I was feeling very confident about the godwits until three bar-tailed godwits flew off. There was a handful of greenshanks, most of them juveniles. 

Juvenile greenshank

This juvenile avocet found the corpse of a black-headed gull…

At first I thought it was just having a rummage round out of curiosity…

Then I worried it might be indulging in necrophilia.
It turned out it was trying to work out the best position for hunting for sandhoppers in the gull's wing feathers.

Redshank chick

A few pied wagtails flitted about, a common sandpiper bobbed along the distant mudbanks and a couple of very young redshanks fossicked about the base of the hide. A few pairs of teal, the males in eclipse plumage, dabbled in the pools and greylags fed on the marsh beyond.

A couple of hobbies sat on fenceposts in the distance. One of them decided to mob a passing male marsh harrier and the two of them passing over brought all the waders up. I hoped this might bring the dowitcher out into the open but no luck. The arrival of four spoonbills was a nice consolation.

Spoonbill

Spoonbill

Spoonbill

Spoonbills

A quick look at the Allen pool was depressing. The black-headed gulls were devastated by avian flu this year and some of their remains still littered the pool.

Walking back from the hides

The walk back in the pouring rain could have been more fun. A train was due in five minutes so I decided to postpone the nosy round Leighton Moss. I might as well have stuck to the original plan: the train was cancelled at Lancaster and the one due an hour later was quarter of an hour late. Ah well, if it was easy it wouldn't be fun.