Leighton Moss RSPB Birding Group 16th May 2017
After our holiday in Suffolk and Norfolk, this was the first birding group we could make in May. In fact there were only half of us there because of various holidays. It was avtually rather disappointing. Two of our group caught sight of a Bearded Tit but none of the others did. In fact there seemed to be very few birds about on the site. There were one or two good birds despite this.
The main reserve was notable mainly for the odd Marsh Harrier and the nice numbers of Swifts, Swallows and Martins. My best sighting of the day was actually while I was waiting for someone at the front of the shop when a Marsh Tit flew on to one of the bird tables. This was a nice year tick for me. Other than that it was quiet and even when we went over to the Allen hides we could not see the recently recorded Spoonbills. Of the few birds there, a singe Bar-headed Goose was the best. As for the Eric Morecambe hide – all the water has gone from in front of it. There is some explanation of the cause of this here but this refers to late 2016 and we are now in mid May so I do not know what is going to happen to it – it seems to be a mystery !
Bird Sightings : Leighton Moss Environs
| Greylag Goose | 12 |
| Mute Swan | 4 |
| Common Shelduck | 10 |
| Gadwall | 8 |
| Mallard | 10 |
| Northern Shoveler | 4 |
| Common Pochard | 2 |
| Tufted Duck | 16 |
| Common Pheasant | 4 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 4 |
| Little Egret | 3 |
| Eurasian Marsh Harrier | 3 |
| Common Moorhen | 4 |
| Common Coot | 4 |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | 2 |
| Northern Lapwing | 10 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 50 |
| Black-headed Gull | 20 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 1 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 6 |
| Eurasian Collared Dove | 2 |
| Common Swift | 8 |
| Carrion Crow | 4 |
| Barn Swallow | 10 |
| Common House Martin | 30 |
| Marsh Tit | 1 |
| Coal Tit | 2 |
| Great Tit | 3 |
| Eurasian Blue Tit | 4 |
| Eurasian Nuthatch | |
| Willow Warbler | 4 |
| Eurasian Reed Warbler | 6 |
| European Robin | 6 |
| Eurasian Blackbird | 4 |
| Dunnock | 2 |
| Pied Wagtail | 2 |
| Reed Bunting | 1 |
| Common Chaffinch | 8 |
| European Goldfinch | 4 |
Bird Sightings : : Leighton Moss : Allen Hide
| Greylag Goose | 20 |
| Bar-headed Goose | 1 |
| Canada Goose | 8 |
| Eurasian Wigeon | 1 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Pied Avocet | 4 |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | 2 |
| Black-headed Gull | 10 |
| Cetti’s Warbler | 1 |
| Willow Warbler | 2 |
| Common Chiffchaff | 1 |