Morecambe Bay

Oystercatcher, Morecambe 

It had been another bitterly cold night but I thought I'd best get some work done on the year list. I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and headed North. I decided the pair of grey wagtails flitting about Oxford Road Station was a good omen. Ditto the profusion of magpies, woodpigeons and black-headed gulls lining the trackside up to Preston. Things were quieter between Preston and Carnforth, I was mostly counting carrion crows and occasional flocks of black-headed gulls.

Carnforth was busy with jackdaws, herring gulls and pigeons as I waited for the 555 bus. The railway station bus stop is obviously good pickings judging by the robin that lurked around the shelter and the house sparrows sitting in the hedge nearby.

Pine Lake 

The roads and pavements were ice-free so I could have walked up to Pine Lake. I'm glad I didn't, it was perishing cold and cloudy with it. My concern that the lake would be frozen over was justified at first sight as I got off the bus. Luckily a short walk further along into the chalets brought the unfrozen half of the lake into view. Robins and blackbirds rummaged around the chalets, coal tits, goldfinches and siskins bounced about in the treetops, it was picturesquely wintery.

Looking out over the lake the mute swans by the far bank were the most conspicuous birds at first, the Canada geese and mallards with them blending into the dark of the bankside. Black-headed gulls started to make themselves known and small rafts of tufted ducks and goldeneyes could be seen in the gaps between the chalets.

Gadwalls and coots

Herring gull, tufted ducks and coots 

Black-headed gulls, common gull, tufted ducks, coots and pochards

At last I got to the open area and had a proper scan round. There were common gulls with the hundred or so black-headed gulls, the herring gulls loafed on the ice with a couple of lesser black-backs and a brute of a great black-back. Most of the wildfowl were distant: rafts of mallards, shovelers and tufted ducks, a distant but very vocal raft of a hundred or more wigeon and smaller groups of gadwalls and pochards. A great crested grebe drifting on its own caught my eye, as did the group of cormorants drying their wings in the far corner. I could hear teal underneath the whistling of the wigeons but I was blowed if I could see them.

I couldn't see any sign of a diver for ages. I was scanning the Canada geese and mute swans on the far bank, just in case any other geese were hiding in there, when I saw a shape slip underwater in the corner of my eye. A few moments later a diver bobbed up and lay low in the water for half a minute before diving again. The size of the bird and the smudgy dark and light greyness of it identified it as a juvenile great northern diver. Red-throated divers are quite dainty in comparison, black-throated divers much more contrasty. (I'd already ruled out any other divers but just for the record: a Pacific diver would be more contrasty and a white-billed diver would have a bigger beak.)

Walking back for the bus I passed a couple of bullfinches rummaging around in the shrubs by the play area. Dozens more wigeon whistled as they flew in to the lake.

The next bus was for Lancaster and due in a couple of minutes, which saved my being tempted to get the bus to Kendal and the rail replacement bus back to Lancaster. At Lancaster the next Northern train was for Morecambe so off I went to the seaside.

Morecambe Bay 

Morecambe Bay was bleak and beautiful. The tide was out, leaving expanses of mud peppered with redshanks, oystercatchers and herring gulls. A couple of groups of knots foraged in the weedy mud near the groyne, three sanderlings skittered across the mud just beyond with a couple of curlews. I'd just managed to convince myself that the little dark shape swimming along a channel was a redshank when it dived. It took a while to pick the bird up when it bobbed back up a long way along but at least it was now close enough to confirm as a dabchick. I'm always thrown when I see dabchicks at the seaside, no idea why as there's no reason why they shouldn't be there especially as most inland water's going to be frozen.

Redshank 

Herring gull, oystercatcher and eiders

Eiders

I didn't have any luck finding any turnstones until I'd walked to the end of Trafalgar Point. There was just the one underneath the jetty. Three eiders swam fairly close by, a raft of a few dozen of them was loafing off the beach a few hundred yards further along. I walked back and made my pilgrimage to the Eric Morecambe statue where starlings and house sparrows fussed around its feet. Someone had knitted him a scarf.

Eric Morecambe 

The big problem with getting the train from Morecambe is that it arrives at Lancaster just as the Manchester Airport train sets off. We have our noses rubbed in it along the way as the Morecambe train has to wait at signals for two minutes to allow the Manchester train through. I got a cup of tea and waited the fifty minutes for the next train and didn't care because it had been a good day's birdwatching.

Morecambe Bay 

Carnforth

Ring-necked duck and mallards, Borwick

I hadn't intended doing an eight mile walk, it just sort of happened. The idea was to get the train to Carnforth then bob over to Borwick to have a look at the ring-necked duck there, have a look round Pine Lake either on the way there or back then move on to someplace else with my old man's explorer ticket.

Pine Lake

I got off the train at Carnforth and decided that rather than waiting nearly half an hour for the bus to Pine Lake I'd walk it as it only takes half an hour anyway. Busy as the A6 Scotland Road is there were plenty of robins, blue tits and woodpigeons about in the roadside hedges and a bullfinch was feeding in the ivy by the railway bridge.

Pochards, Pine Lake

I'd dressed expecting an icy breeze across Pine Lake and felt distinctly overdressed in its absence. There were rafts of tufted ducks and pochards out in the water near the entrance and mallards and coots feeding near the shore. Further down the Canada geese showed a distinct lack of road sense, not getting up even when a driver had to stop their car behind a couple and blow the horn (opening the door shifted them in the end). The black-headed gulls were accompanied by a dozen or more common gulls and, far out on the lake, a raft of herring gulls with a few lesser black-backs.

Tufted ducks, Pine Lake

Oystercatcher, Pine Lake

I decided to move on when a power boat launched and started doing circuits of the lake, scattering all the birds. I had half an hour to wait for the Kendal bus but given that I'd only be going one stop and then I'd have a ten minute walk to the lake at Borwick and it was only just over forty minutes' by foot I decided to walk it.

There were more robins and blue tits in the hedgerows, accompanied by a family of long-tailed tits and a couple of goldcrests. I turned at the big roundabout and went down Borwick Lane, stopping by the motorway to check out the raft of tufties on the lake by the holiday homes.

I was just starting down Kellett Road to try and get a look at the lake when a chap stopped his car and told me I'd do better going up the road a bit and taking the next path down. I thanked him and set off that way only to bump into him again a few minutes later. His wife had just been looking at the ring-necked duck and she insisted on acting as my guide, which was phenomenally good of her.

The lake's a small fishery, fenced off from the footpath. Having said that the view was excellent and it was the work of a moment to find the mallards, tufted ducks, dabchicks and a female goldeneye. It took me half an hour to find the ring-necked duck, a nice female bird, when she finally emerged from behind the only island on the lake.

Ring-necked duck and mallards, Borwick

I checked the local buses: I could walk the ten minutes up to Tewitfield and just miss the bus back to Carnforth or I could walk down to Upper Kellett via Capenwray and just miss the Warton bus into Carnforth from there. So that's what I decided to do.

Great white egret and friend, Borwick

I hadn't gone far down the path to Capenwray when I noticed a couple of little egrets feeding with the sheep in one of the fields. A little further on, after turning a corner, I looked back at the field and saw another egret on this side of a slight rise. It looked a bit big, though, so I had a look through the binoculars. A great white egret feeding in a field of sheep in northernmost Lancashire, you wouldn't have put money on it even a decade ago. Out in the field it was a very obvious great white egret, looking at the photos back home I wasn't so sure and almost convinced myself it was a cattle egret because it looked small in the company of sheep. I had to go back to some photos of cattle egrets knee-high to some bullocks to remind me how small they are.

Walking down to Capenwray

Just before Capenwray there's a little fishery just by the path. I'd noticed a goosander in the pool with a bunch of mallards. I moved along a little to try and get a better view through the trees and found a kingfisher fishing from a willow stump.

River Keer, Capenwray

As I walked down Capenwray Road to Upper Kellett flocks of starlings accumulated in the tops of the trees in the fields and there was a steady passage of gulls overhead flying to roost. The first few waves were all black-headed gulls, they were followed by larger flocks of lesser black-backs with a few herring gulls. A buzzard floating over the fields between copses was the only bird of prey of the day.

Along Capenwray Road

It's just a short walk down from Upper Kellett to Carnforth, accompanied by singing robins, blackbirds and song thrushes and the calls of jackdaws going to roost.

It had been a really good walk but I'd arrived back in Carnforth during that odd couple of hours when all the trains head North. So I got the train to Arnside and spent a while by the estuary watching the curlews, oystercatchers and redshanks feeding in the twilight.

I got the next train to Lancaster and rather than kicking my heels for over an hour for the next Northern Rail train I bought a single to Preston and went home from there.

Another of those days where the plan unravels organically and the day's outing's the better for it.

Morecambe Bay from Upper Kellett

Railway journeys: the Furness Line

Sketch map: Morecmabe Bay and the Furness Line

Travelling around a lot by train as I do (or did before the current unpleasantness) I've learned that I can see a lot of birdlife from through the window as we move along. In fact it's easier than by car or bus because there tends to be more open space around the line and chugging along on local lines involves a lot of stopping for points and stations and a leisurely pace between them. Mind you, as I get older my reaction times and eyesight aren't what they used to be so a lot of small brown jobs have to remain small brown jobs these days. Even if the balances are tilted towards larger birds it can still be very rewarding. Travelling on the Furness Line to Barrow is a case in point. I'd spotted the potential travelling to Millom to visit Hodbarrow Reserve and since I found out about the old man's cheap day explorer I've taken to tagging this onto a visit to Leighton Moss.

I'll only be mentioning these key birdwatching sites in passing in this post:

• Pine Lake (a mile from Carnforth Station)
• Leighton Moss (five minutes' walk from Silverdale Station)
• South Walney (about two and a half miles from Barrow-in-Furness Station, I've not done this yet)
• Hodbarrow (about twenty minutes' walk from Millom Station)

Starting from Lancaster make sure you've got a window seat on the left-hand side. These are a few highlights:

• Just after you leave Lancaster the line goes over the River Lune. There are always gulls kicking about, keep an eye out for waders at low tide. The ducks always seem to be mallard.

• Just after the junction with the line to Bare Lane and Morecambe the line comes close to the shore at Hest Bank. You've a fleeting chance of seeing much but there may be curlews, oystercatchers or little egrets in the fields between here and Carnforth,

• Leaving Carnforth the train passes by a stretch of salt marsh which opens up into the pools that you can see from the Eric Morecambe Hide at Leighton Moss. You can get a fair view of these pools as the train slows for the level crossing and Silverdale Station. Shelduck, greylags and little egrets are the most obvious birds along this stretch and pied wagtails can be surprisingly easy to spot. Anything much smaller than a lapwing or redshank will be a challenge. Wigeon, teal and pintail can be seen in the Winter, in the Summer you may find an avocet or two though these are usually on the Allen pool which is a bit further out from the line with a line of trees in the way. You may strike lucky with a great white egret or even one of the Foulshaw opsreys on its way out for a fishing expedition.

• As you leave Arnside the line crosses the Kent Estuary then runs along the salt marsh into Grange over Sands. Gulls, shelduck and little egrets tend to be the easiest to see from the train. The views can be rather nice, too.

Arnside

Approaching Grange-over-Sands

• The line carries on besides the salt marsh between Grange and Kents Bank then runs inland over to Cark. Not long after Cark you return to a long stretch of salt marsh then the long bridge over the River Leven. Most of the waders will be redshanks and oystercatchers, if it's low tide check the muddy creeks close to the line just in case. You might find a couple of red-breasted mergansers in the deeper channels and you may also see the odd group of eiders.

Leven Estuary

From here on in it's inland through farmland and small towns to Barrrow in Furness. If the train times are kind you may be able to make a connection for the Cumbrian Coast Line to Carlisle. It's a short hop on here to Millom where in Summer you can spend a couple of hours walking round Hodbarrow for the little terns that nest in the mixed tern colony.

Pine Lake

Sketch map: Carnforth and Pine Lake

Pine Lake is a small holiday resort just outside Carnforth chiefly notable for its Winter ducks which may include smew or even ringed duck.

Pine Lake

Starting from Carnforth Station, it's a short walk to the bus stop on Hawes Hill, by the side of the Station Hotel. The 555 bus between Lancaster and Keswick runs hourly during the day and it's just one stop to Pine Lake. Alternatively you can walk down Market Street and turn left onto the A6 Scotland Road, past the little roundabout by the truck stop and on to the big roundabout where the dual carriageway to the M6 joins the A6. The road to Pine Lake is the second exit. Take care crossing here, the roads can be very busy.

The lake is surrounded by holiday chalets though there are a few places where you can sit by the water's edge. For all that you're in a little island stuck between the A6 and M6 it can feel quite secluded.

Pochards

Tufted ducks

Pine Lake

Ring-necked duck, Pine Lake

The plan today was to get an old man's rail ranger ticket, visit Pine Lake for the ring-necked duck then follow on to Leighton Moss for a wander.

At Pine Lake the Ring-necked duck was keeping its distance. This is the best photo of a bad bunch: a combination of bad light, lots of camera shake in the strong wind and very choppy water hiding the bird had me beat. I've a lot of the top of its head behind waves. The picture that best shows the bill pattern also includes some phenomenal unintentional camera shake.

Ring-necked duck, Pine Lake

There were plenty of goosander and goldeneye out in the water. Small rafts of tufted ducks and pochard were quite close to the shore.

Tufted duck, Pine Lake

Pochard, Pine Lake

I'd got the 555 bus from Carnforth Station to Pine Lake (it's quite handy from the train, runs once an hour and is just the one stop) but decided to walk back as I was getting a bit too windswept and interesting to be waiting half an hour for the bus back. It's not a bad walk, straight down the A6 then turn down Market Street and down to the station, but crossing the A6 at the roundabout just outside the Pine Lake resort needs a bit of care.

Another Monday on Northern Rail: the train to Silverdale was cancelled and the next train, an hour later, was being reported as 47 minutes late. Hanging round for the best part of two hours to get to Leighton Moss in the dark didn't appeal. The train to Morecambe was due any minute so I decided to have a trip to the seaside.

By the time we got to Morecambe the weather had taken a turn for the worse as the wind had brought the rain in from the sea. It was high tide so I thought I'd stroll up the prom and have a look at the roosting waders on the breakwaters. A few dozen turnstones and redshanks were sheltering in the lee of the wind with a few dunlin and a couple of knots. A pair of shelduck and a curlew joined the ranks of oystercatchers on the seaward side and three great crested grebes were out on the sea. There wasn't any cover for a prolonged sea watch.

Looking across Morecambe Bay

Defeated again by the weather I went and got the train home.

Pine Lake and Leighton Moss

Pine Lake

Lunchtime stroll round Pine Lake, just outside Carnforth, which turns out to be quite easy to get to by public transport. I was hoping for the ring-necked duck that was there yesterday, which would be a lifer for me. After half an hour's straining my eyes staring at a raft of tufted duck in the bright, low light (with a few scaup to add to the mix) I realised I'd overlooked it twice because it had been asleep with its head tucked behind it. When it woke up it steamed behind a group of tufted ducks and I lost the damned thing again. It took a while to pick it up again but I couldn't get a photo of it.

I'd got an Old Man's Ranger ticket so I decided to move on from Carnforth. I considered getting the train through to Carlisle for a lark as I last did it thirty years ago but on a whim, and not wanting to waste the good weather, I decided to have a couple of hours at Leighton Moss and spend a bit of time in the Causeway Hide.

Cetti's warbler

Good job I did. Cetti's warblers were very active on the causeway; it's not often I get to see a whole Cetti's, usually it's a fleeting glimpse of a head, wing or tail, today I got three. Two were so intent on fighting for their territory close to the hide that they didn't care that I was stood there. A lot of kerfuffle at the base of some reeds then two Cetti's warblers rolled out onto the path then carried the fight on in the reeds on the other side. A third was being very noisy by the grit feeders so I stopped to see if I could see it. Imagine my surprise when it jumped onto the wooden rail, sang at me then dived back into the reeds on the ground. I eventually got a photo of it and was feeling quite pleased with myself when I turned round to find a couple of bearded tits on the grit trays a couple of yards from me.

Bearded tit

A distant short-eared owl flying low over one of the cow fields was a bonus.