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Post Info TOPIC: Leighton Moss RSPB


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RE: Leighton Moss RSPB


few days late posting this. had a good day at leighton moss this week, 53 species in total. biggest highlight for me was a green woodpecker, my 1st ever and it was the 1st bird we saw. other highlights were male and female marsh harriers, buzzard, 1 avocet, sedge warbler, marsh tit, black tailed godwits, male and female pintail also possible peregrine

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15/4/10

Reserve only, 07:00 - 14:00

Of the many species seen (53), things of note included:

5 Marsh Harriers (2m), including a satellite tagged female
7 Bearded Tits along the Public Causeway
1 Peregrine
3 Marsh Tit
5 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
10+ Shelduck
2 Oystercatcher
2 Great Black-backed Gulls on territory again
2+ Great Crested Grebe
3 Great Spotted Woodpecker
Mallard duck with 10 chicks
Usual migrants - Blackcaps, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Swallows...



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Hi
Interesting about the Hawfinches ! Tried once at Wombwell ? (Is that where you mean ?) a few years ago and saw nothing also that churchyard in Conwy ?
Is it worth a trip up there ?

thanks
Mark

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todays highlights were...

Marsh harriers, male and female showing well today, little egrets, swallows, sand martins and a couple of house martins, single spotted redshank hiding in all the redshanks, hundreds of them from eric morcambe, lots of black tailed godwits, single goldeneye red brested mergansers and all the usual stuff, Nice to meet Jim today, another manchester birder tick smile.gif

-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Monday 5th of April 2010 06:01:51 PM

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Nice day out at Leighton yesterday with Paul. Nice to see the food has improved in the cafe.

Stopped off for the Hawfinch first at Sizergh, at 8am, at least 6 present.

Nice views of a male Marsh Harrier skydiving at Leighton and 3 snow geese flying round at 1 point. Alllen Hide had good views of the Greenshank and Spotted Redshank with thousands of Godwit and Redshank also present.
The Peregrines where showing well at Warton and in good voice.


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Early morning visit to Leighton but 1st called at Sizergh where I had excellent views of 8 Hawfinch in the car park at 7.45a.m.
At Allen/Morcambe hides there were 100's of Black-tailed Godwits, some in breeding plumage (no sign of any Bar-tailed as seen by the last poster) and 100's of Redshank also, just 4 Avocet, many Shelduck smaller numbers of Pintail, Gadwall, Teal, Pochard, Shoveler and 4 Little Egret. At Leighton proper the only other birds of note were an excellent female Marsh Harrier giving good views in the rain, Goldeneye and a large flock of Sand Martins flying very high, 100+ birds.
Cheers Ian

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Public Hide
Tufted, Teal, in abundance
Pochard dozen.
Lower Hide
Similar Cormerat Greylag Geese 6 shellduck
Lillians
More Pochard, Several Goldeneye, single male pintail
Greisdale Jackson hides
3 little egret, Oyster Catchers, Water rail calling, 12 shellduck, 8 shoveller, Gadwall 8 Widgeon pochards tufted teal
Allen Hide
3 waders together Redshank-Spotted Redshank-Greenshank
Single curlew
More shellduck shoveller
Eric Norecombe
5 Avocet, more egrets, large focks of mainly Bar Tailed Godwits Redshank others Curlew oyster catcher 12 pintail male female. Other flocks too far out for my bins
12 widgeon Plenty of shellduck more gadwall

REports board in visitors centre stated Marsh Harriers recently seen

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Originally posted by Mark Cain at 9:08pm, 18th March

3 little egrets and a single great white egret in front of Griesdale Hide all this afternoon; along with a single male peregrine that was showing off brilliantly to a hide-full of eager spectators. It spent at least 2 hours intermittently swooping from one dead tree to another and preening, only about 50m in front of us, allowing for some half decent photo's.

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Had a day at the Moss today weather fantastic am.Did a full mooch round the hides
Pink foot,buzzard,shovelar,teal,greylag,tufted,kestrel,egret,pin tail,pochard,shelduck,wigeon,lapwing possible merlin flying over. Highlight of the day was the otter at lower hide watched it for good 5 minutes ducking and diving finally went under the water and came up witha eel.Fantastic.biggrin.gif

-- Edited by phil ogden on Thursday 18th of March 2010 08:56:57 PM

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RE: leighton moss


I popped in to Leighton Moss for an hour or so to see what was about. Pretty quite, as was just after low tide, so few waders about, but 6 Avocet now on the scrapes, a single Spotted Redshank and lots of Redshank, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and the like on the Eric Morcombe area.

Up to the centre and watched the feeding station for 5-10 minutes, but only 1 Marsh Tit showed very briefly, but lots of the usual finches, tits and Nuthatch etc.

Walked over to the Tim Jackson hide, 3 Red Deer, a Raven and not much else, but not been to that hide in a while. The GWE had been seen from that hide earlier in the day, but was in the reeds/pools out of sight somewhere disbelief.gif.

Met a nice lad studying an MA in Environment and Ornothology at MMU, also called Sean, and told him to sign up to the Forum etc, so if you read this send me a message once you've signed up and if you need any advice on your course or career advice later on let me know and I'll be happy to help, as I'm sure the wider GMForum folk will biggrin.gif.



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Good day's birding today, even a bit of warmth in the air wink.gif!

Apart form the usual ducks & greylags, saw the 3 snow geese - firstly from Lilians then they were in the field on the left just after the railway crossing as I was on my way to Morecambe/Allen. Didn't have any luck with the bitterns or GWE but there were plenty of little egrets, 5 goosander (1m &4f). One barnacle goose also seen from Lilians. Water rail seen from the path down to Griesdale & Tim Jackson hides.

Curlew, redshank, black tailed godwits seen from Morecambe/Allen with a solitary avocet.

Siskin, chaffinch, greenfinch, bullfinch, coal tit, great tit and blue tit were all at the feeding station.

Bit disappointing on the raptor front, only buzzards seen today. Did see 5 stags from Tim Jackson hide looking very sleepy.

The highlight for me though had to be actually seeing the Cetti's warbler biggrin.gifbiggrin.gif!! I spent 30 minutes walking up and down a 10m stretch of the causeway with a bloke with a camera trying to find the damn thing. Could hear it singing its little heart out and it was only about half a metre from us but just couldn't see it - very frustratingno.gif!! But eventually spotted it as it flew across a narrow channel (for about 5 second but it still counts) biggrin.gifbiggrin.gif

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The Snow Geese still there today & Great White Egret back on the reserve seen from the Tim Jackson hide, great to see my friend still getting the rarities.

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Hoping to be able to get a really early start yawn.gif and sneak up on a bittern just after its got light! Only seen one once at that was years ago from a distance just as it slid back into the reedbed no.gif! Going to try and find the snow geese too

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I dont think their locked Holly, certainly the public hide wont be locked, im sure they would be open at first light, are you after your next bogey bird?

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Can anyone tell me what time the Public/Lower & Morecambe/Allen hides are open in the mornings?

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Bittern showing really well from the Lilian hide.Other hides pretty quiet when we were there.--Nice to see the marsh tits on the feeders-----[talking of feeding-had a cracking lancashire cheese and chutney sarnie in the cafe!]

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Saw the Snow Geese this week on the fields in front of the caravan park about three miles before you get to Leighton - they were feeding with a large flock of Greylags which also had two white farm geese and a leucistic looking greylag or a cross which I've seen at Leighton before.

If anyone wants to find the snow geese it might be worth a quite view from along the road at various spots...still not seen anyone prepared to suggest they're not plastic though blankstare.gif

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A very wet day produced nothing out of the ordinary - in fact it was pretty pants.

No Sign of the snow geese anywhere on the reserve, apparently they are in 'some other fileds'.

Cettis warbler was reported singing along the causeway, but I didnt hear it.

Bittern was reported at least twice from Lilians, but I wasnt in at the time.

Otters hd been reported from the public and lower hides earlier in the week, but not today.

Good numbers of black-tailed godwits from the Allen/Morecambe hides, but other than that just the usual expected wildfowl, although I have to say 4 red deer (including 3 stags with HUGE antlers) was pretty impressive from the Tim Jackson Hide.

-- Edited by Craig Higson on Friday 26th of February 2010 09:24:37 PM

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Sean Sweeney wrote:

Only had an hour or so up there this afternoon, as off to watch Everton v Chelsea later at Goodison! biggrin.gif


Sean Chelsea must be sick of us this season - but anything to help our Manc mates eh?wink.gif

-- Edited by sid ashton on Wednesday 10th of February 2010 10:42:37 PM

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Only had an hour or so up there this afternoon, as off to watch Everton v Chelsea later at Goodison! biggrin.gif

The 4 Snow Geese were with Greylag in the fields on the apporach to Silverdale, as were a few Little Egrets overhead. Lots of activity on the bird feeder at the reserve centre, with Bullfinches and Long-tailed Tits feeding on the seeds and nuts respectively. A lone Marsh Tit made a brief appearance wink.gif which was worth the wait, though I think I was the only one who appreciated this little brown job no.gif!

A quick stroll up the causeway brought lots of very tame Robins in close proximity while I was trying to listen out for Cetti's Warblers, but I had not bread or seed to feed them today, always a joy though! I did hear a distant Bearded Tit though, but no sign of it as is usually the case disbelief.gif.

Bonus from the public hide was a brief Bittern flying into reeds, followed by two different birds showing in different locations, one coming out and strolling up a small channel in full view, while another came out and fished a little before being very skulky and hidden, but eventually showing well for me and all others in the hide. Not seen that many Bittern in a single sitting for a long while, definetely worth the visit smile.gif.

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(Late post for yesterday) 7/2/10

The reserve shrouded in fog for most of the day, but with some bright patches:

The 4 Snow Geese were feeding with Greylags in fields near to the level crossing. Also here, a flock of 19 Curlew.
1 Spotted Redshank & 1 Little Egret from the Allen Hide was the only thing of interest on the Morecambe complex,
1 Peregrine perched up near to the Griesdale Hide, plus another Little Egret mooching about,
1 Cetti`s Warbler heard along the public causeway,
2 Marsh Tits, 2 Treecreepers, and several Nuthatch around the path to Lillians Hide. Large numbers of Wigeon and a handful of Pintail on the main lake.

Temporarily broke up the "chore" of Borough Year-Listing confuse.gifbiggrin.gif



-- Edited by Ian Woosey on Monday 8th of February 2010 08:39:12 PM

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it was still pretty icy yesterday but even the local bus managed it so i think it should be fine smile.gif

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Hi

Has the uphill road leading to the reserve defrosted now? I drove up last week, and after 2 hours in the car found that I couldn't get up the road due to ice and had to turn back!! bleh.gif

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yesterday 9.30am to 2pm

all lakes frozen including marshs near the sea.
only duck of interest was a lone female goldeneye at Lillian's
however other highlights included:
From lower hide:
a distant roosting barn owlsmile.gif
a peregrine
flocks of siskin and bullfinch around
From Tim Jackson hide:
a water rail boldly slipping about on ice no more than 10 yards from hidesmile.gif
feeding station:
marsh tit and nuthatch



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A thoroughly rewarding birthday visit on Wednesday which included Marsh Tit, a splendid male Bearded Tit on the girit trays (which was a frist for a nice lady who shared my birthday!) Cetti's and Water Rails heard from the causeway then a superb Bittern showing a number of times from the lower hide. No Hawfinch at Woodwell but the Snow Geese and over 1,500 BT Godwits from the Eric Morecombe against the light at the end of a perfect day out.

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Leighton Moss area including Sizergh


Much the same as everyone else of late who have reported on the area. Arrived at Sizergh Castle car park 0730 and straight onto 6 Hawfinch in a Hornbeam opposite the cafe - three more joined and they dispersed but were around and about for the hour or so I was there. There was also a nice little flock of Redwing. On the River Kent had several sightings of Dipper with 3 on view at the same time. I had forgotten what a pleasant area this is.

Then to Leighton Moss where 4 Greenshank were in front of the public hide and Marsh Tit and Bullfinch at the feeding station. The guy who has been doing the Bearded Tit survey said that as far as he was aware it was the first day since they started visiting the grit trays this autumn that they hadn't put in a morning appearance. The 4 Snow Geese amongst the flock of Greylags were only visible from the crag road viewpoint whereas the 3 Great White Egrets could be seen from the Morcambe hide as could 100's of Blackwit, 4 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Pintail but only 3 Little Egret. Also present a Peregrine on a post and a hunting Merlin.

Stopped at Pine Lake but didn't hang around too long in the rain - no sign of the Slav Grebe.



-- Edited by sid ashton on Thursday 12th of November 2009 07:55:38 PM

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RE: leighton moss


Popped up for the high tide after completing some work in Heysham today. No sign of the GW Egrets on the main reserve, but all the usual waterfowl in good numbers. Went down to the Morcombe Hides, 6 Little Egrets but still no sign of the Great Whites, nevermind no.gif. I still remember seeing one there a couple of years back.

Probably over a 1,000 Black-tailed Godwit, several Snipe, 100's each of Lapwing and Redshank, but all tending to stick to the far pools. Lots of water there currently, so not so good for the small waders. Still, there were a few Dunlin and before it got too dark 3 Spotted Redshank came in pretty close, one calling constantly.

Oh, and nearly forgot, 4 Snow Geese??hmm.gif As stated in previous threads I'm not certain of their origin, but they sure were pretty!? smile.gif

Had a Woodcock fly over the motorway on the way home too, bonus bird!! biggrin.gif

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sunday the 8th, saw 3 goldeneye constantly diving and the usual stuff,a single kingfisher flew by, beardeds were showing around tenish on the trays, nothing really of note

but from eric morcambe hide had good veiws of dunlin and black tailed godwits mixed in with all the redshank, a few greenshank, also three great egrets and some snow geese mixed with the red breasted mergansers, best veiw of the day was a lovely merlin sat on the post quite close and got some good photos even though in the rain,

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We stayed the weekend at Pine Lodge and had great views of cormorants, tufties,pochard ,goldeneye,great crested grebe,goosanders and a first for Jan and myself....the slav grebe.
Saturday was a total waste of time all around Silverdale due to the rain, but we did manage a female Hawfinch at Woodwell woods.
Sunday we tried for the bearded tits on the grit trays from 7am till 10 am, left for bacon butties cold and starving missing the buggers by aprrox 15 mins. No problems hearing them pinging though ..disbelief.gif

Like yourself Gary, got the same at the Eric Morecome. One great white egret ,little egrets,greenshank,redshank,dunlin, red breasted mergansers and 4 snow geese in with the greylags. Can't see how we missed each other at the reserve. Great Starling roost from 4:05pm onwards. One Peregrine sitting in a dead tree opposite Lillian's hide was the only raptor seen over the weekend. confuse.gif

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saturday 7th 2009

Spent the morning driving up the m6 in torrential rain wondering if i should emigrate. Thanks goes to Vernon for cheering me up with bon bons,pontefract cakes and licourice toffeesbiggrin.gif
Our mission today were the Hawfinch at sizergh castle and a Tarts tick the snow geese at the eric and ernie hidesbiggrin.gif
First visit to sizargh which i thought was a brill place early morning rewarded us with at least 6 Hawfinch lifers for us both, showing from the carpark .Lots of other stuff around ,tree creeper,nuthatch,tits,bullfinch,chaffinch,jay,sparrrowhawk and my first this winter redwingsbiggrin.gifand best of all the persistant rain had turned into showers.
Onto mission 2 the snow geese. I must admit for a lifer i wasnt too excited with these birds but who knows were they have come from? maybe if they turn up at some lake and come to bread i would then scratch them from my list.Anyway its nice not dipping for a changebiggrin.gif and again its not just about the birds met some really nice people again and got some more good tips on birdingbiggrin.gif
Other birds at eric morcome hide were 3 great white egrets,little egrets,greenshank,redshank,dunlin, red breasted mergansers and all the usual wildfowl.
Stopped off on the way home at pine lake which had tufties,pochard ,goldeneye,great crested grebe,goosanders but no signs of the slav grebe after anhour searchingcry.gif

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Anne Wilkinson wrote:

There are several escaped Snow geese wandering around Bowland and North Lancashire. But if they are living in the wild we can tick them - cant we? I saw them at Brockholes a couple of weeks ago.





don't think so,if they escaped from captivityconfuse.gifbut its always up to the individualsmile.gif

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There are several escaped Snow geese wandering around Bowland and North Lancashire. But if they are living in the wild we can tick them - cant we? I saw them at Brockholes a couple of weeks ago.

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Just been on the local web site for Leighton which reports 4 Snow Geese amongst the Greylags evening of 28th. I was there 8.00am on 29th and saw these birds amongst the Greylags and dismissed them as feral farm Geesecry.gif. Does mean they are now classed as a Tarts Tick?????biggrin.gifbiggrin.gifbiggrin.gif, who cares!!.
Cheers Ian

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Spent the morning here today.
From Morcambe hide; 1000+ Blacktailed Godwit, 5 Greenshank, lots of Redshank, Teal, Wigeon, Greylag, Curlew, Shoveler, Little Egrets( no sign of Great Whitehmm.gif, there were 3 yesterday) and a Peregrine repeatedly putting up all the birds, a tremendous site.
At Leighton all the usual, best being Marsh Tits at the feeders and 2 Bearded Tits at the Grit trays.
Cheers Ian

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Thursday 22nd October

Water Rail
Spotted the 2 GW Egrets leave roost over public hide just before several thousand Starlings flew over going the opposite direction. What a noise they made
There were also at least 32 Little Egrets in the roost

1 of the GW Egrets showed well from Grisedale hide later in the morning
Marsh Tits showing well at feeders

Morecambe and Allen pools
at least eight Little Egret
400+ very vocal Blackwits
Redshank
Peregrine

Large raft of Eiders off Morecambe Promenade at high tide

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Visited yesterday (21st Oct) with Simon Johnson.

2 X Great White Egrets still present, 1 Eric Morecombe pool, 1 showing well Griesdale Hide. 150+ Wigeon from Lillians hide. 5+ Pintail, 20+ Little Egrets.
Slav Grebe still at Nearby Pine Lake.

Then on to Cockersands where Simon's keen eye picked up the Long Billed Dowitcher although distant, also male Scaup on the Lune Estuary and Common Sand and Spotted Redshank Conder Green.

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6 Hawfinch in the tall hornbeams in Sizergh Castle car park for 2 days running now. Also seen in the orchard (but you have to pay or be a NT member to get in there).

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Yes as Jonathon says, Saturday is definitely a good day to visit. Never ever go near Sizergh in school holidays - not a bird in sight!

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thanks for the info johnathan sounds like a great place to visitbiggrin.gif

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Gary Gorner wrote:

hi ann when you say the house is closed on saturdays do you meen that satudays is a good day to see the bids or a bad day .






Probably a good day!

As far as I know Gary you can always access the grounds, but the house is closed on Saturdays and after November, as Anne suggests. The car park is usually closed when the house is closed, but I drive up and park on the road near the entrance to the car park, otherwise you could park outside the entrance to the grounds (near the pub) and walk up to the house and car park (only five minutes). The hawfinches are attracted to the hornbeams in the car park, as are many other species. If you drive (or walk) under the A591 (Nannypie Lane) you'll come to the River Kent which usually holds dipper, grey wag, etc. The whole area's decent for birding, I don't go enough!

This map might help (click on 'OS Map' if it doesn't open in that view):

http://www.multimap.com/maps/#map=54.28111,-2.76572|15|4&dp=os&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:54.28427:-2.77105:14|SD499879|SD499879

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hi ann when you say the house is closed on saturdays do you meen that satudays is a good day to see the bids or a bad day .

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We spent the day at Leighton Moss, today.

Aside from the 2 Great White Egrets, which we saw albeit quite distant, disappearing in and out of the ditches, we had a good selection of birds.

2 Spot Shanks
800+ Black T Godwits
Redshanks
About 30 Little Egrets
2 Stonechats
all from or near the Morecambe/Allen hides

On the reserve itself there were plenty of the usual ducks and passerines plus

2 Marsh Tits
2 Goldeneye (my first of winter period)
We missed the Bearded Tits on the trays, but we could hear them "pinging" around us and we could also hear at least one Red Deer stag making his presence knownwink.gif

Nice to be able to get out during the week!



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thankyou for the tips i/we will certainly give it a gobiggrin.gif

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Yes I saw them at Sizergh Castle car park last winter. I was told to go late afternoon on a day when the house was closed to visitors. Sure enough, 5 birds came down to feed on fallen beech mast only feet away from the car.

The house is always closed on Saturdays and will be closed every day after 1st November till March.



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Gary Gorner wrote:

sizergh castle in the car park area is supposed to be good for hawfinch as well its somewhere i will be trying once the leaves have dropped it would be a lifer for mebiggrin.gif






I've been three times but too many leaves during the summer - two quick visits to meet up with work colleagues but did see spotted Flycatchers in the formal garden bit during a family visit. I'm looking forward to bare trees and a few early morning winter visits!

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sizergh castle in the car park area is supposed to be good for hawfinch as well its somewhere i will be trying once the leaves have dropped it would be a lifer for mebiggrin.gif

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Gary, we must have been in the Public Hide at the same time as you. Great views of the Bittern and all those Beardies - fantastic. We went on to Woodwell in search of Hawfinch but we only saw Marsh tits. We saw the GWE at the EM Hide and we also had fantastic views of the Kingfisher there. Lots of waders to study incl 6 Greenshanks, 2 Spotted reds and 2 Bar-tailed godwits.

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sat 10.10.09

Great day out with Vernon first stop was at the quarry with many jackdaws about and already getting very protective of their nest holes.No sign of the peregrines cry.gif
On to the eric and ernie hides and the fog was getting worse but could still make out several greenshank cracking views of the kingfisher and a water rail right next to the hidebiggrin.gifThe walk to the hides was also productive with a huge flock of greenfinch approx 70 birds a few goldfinch and a pair of willow warblers heweeting in the scrub.
We decided to move to the main reserve in the hope the fog would be less like pea soup.It was a wise move a we timed it right for once the bearded tits were all over the grit trays with several birds showing for a good few hours. The public hide was on top form also with a bittern flying from right to left and crashlanding in the edge of the reeds giving great views for the photographers for several minutes before dissappearing into the reeds.biggrin.gif
We then decided to head to heysham for the high tide stopping at the lookout point were we found the great white egrets on the far left allen pools by now the fog had clearedbiggrin.gif
Heysham saw shag.cormorant,oystercatchers,redshank and a surprise for vernon and another tick for himcry.gif a lone eider duck female .After the usual ice cream we tried the local brew nettle flavoured which im told puts hairs on your chest etcbiggrin.gif PS VERNON STOP TRYING TO AVOID CAR PARKING TICKETS disbelief.gif
opps forgot the med gull at ernie hide

-- Edited by Gary Gorner on Monday 12th of October 2009 07:06:05 AM

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Bearded Tits !!!

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A cracking day's birding in the Leighton Moss area produced 42 species with the following of note starting with a Peregrine at Warton Crag and fantastic views of 2 Great White Egrets and 38 Little Egrets from the viewpoint about 1 mile north of the Crag looking down onto the bay. Then onto the causeway where the Bearded Tits gave a fine display - there were at least 6 on show on and around the grit trays and calling from the reeds for about half an hour mid morning. The public hide produced 5 Greenshank, a single Spotted Redshank and a Marsh Harrier. A pit stop at the reserve reception area for lunch gave the usual 2 Marsh Tits at the feeding station. Had a look over the almost flat calm Morcambe bay at high tide but very little to see - similar results at Woodwell looking for the Hawfinches - they are reported to be around but too many leaves still on the Hornbeam where they are reputed to be feeding. So despite a quiet finish another excellent day up North.

P.S. Found a group of 5 - 6 Swallows just outside Warton on the way home.

-- Edited by sid ashton on Wednesday 7th of October 2009 06:37:02 PM

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