Birding Group Brockholes 25 Mar 2025

The birding group visit to Brockholes started to look very unpromising as we approached the site and saw that, where the islands had been, was bare, bulldozed mud with few birds in sight. However, the automatic car park car recognition meant that we would have had to pay for a day’s parking anyway, so we decided to have a look rather than drive on elsewhere. In the end we were glad we did because we ended up having a good day getting some nice year ticks on a day where it seemed that Spring might not be that far away.

As soon as we got out of the car we were greeted by the first Chiffchaffs of the year and we must have heard half a dozen of them during our visit; we only saw one, though. After a search for our first, elusive, Chiffchaff we walked down to the visitor centre to find out what was happening and the chap there explained that because the islands had become overgrown and not attractive to waders, they had decided to lower the water lever and re-landscape to create more islands. Unfortunately, since the bulldozers had done their work, it hadn’t rained so nothing much had grown back yet. This is something I have felt should have been done some time ago because there used to be a lot of waders when it first opened but in recent years, if there were any birds on the island, you couldn’t see anything for long grass.

Surprisingly, the more you looked, the more you saw that there were more birds that there first appeared with some Lapwings, a Grey Heron and some ducks about. The best birds of the day were the Sand Martins – probably about eighty or so of them; they have colonised the artificial sand bank after some changes were made to it to be more appealing to them. There have always been a good number nesting on the banks of the river Ribble but this has enabled their colony to grow. The views of the Sand Martins from the hide next to the In Focus shop were terrific.

We walked from there turning left onto the path and headed up to the woods. As we passed some bird feeders we got good views of Reed Bunting and other small birds. A handsome male Pheasant was patrolling under the feeders! The woods were filled with bird song with Robins, Chaffinches, Song Thrush and Goldfinch all singing. We also heard calling Nuthatches but, again, only saw one. I got a brief glance of a year first Goldcrest as well.

It is a much further walk back from where you leave the woods to the car park than I ever remember and I was pretty sore about the hip, knee and leg by the time we got back. By way of compensation we got Buzzard, Goldeneye and Pied Wagtail. Oh the water also were Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Mute Swan, Grey Heron and good numbers of Cormorants, so we got a good range of birds.

The cafe wasn’t open (it’s only open at weekends though you can get coffee and a biscuit at the visitor centre) so we drove to the nearby The cafe wasn’t open (it’s only open at weekends though you can get coffee and a biscuit at the visitor centre) so we drove to the nearby Bluebird Inn; don’t go there again – the beer is awful Lees!

So, in all, a surprisingly good day but I am not at all sure about the long walk back. Year ticks here were Sand Martin, Reed Bunting, Coal Tit, Goldcrest and Chiffchaff.

Bird Sightings : Brockholes Nature Reserve 25 Mar 2025

Species	No
Black-headed Gull	20
Blackbird	4
Blue Tit	5
Buzzard	1
Canada Goose	20
Carrion Crow	6
Chaffinch	2
Chiffchaff	4
Coal Tit	1
Coot	2
Cormorant	20
Dunnock	4
Gadwall	4
Goldcrest	1
Goldeneye	2
Goldfinch	8
Great Crested Grebe	4
Great Tit	3
Grey Heron	1
Lapwing	12
Little Egret	2
Long-tailed Tit	1
Magpie	10
Mallard	8
Moorhen	2
Mute Swan	4
Nuthatch	1
Oystercatcher	2
Pheasant	1
Pied Wagtail	1
Reed Bunting	5
Robin	4
Sand Martin	80
Shoveler	5
Song Thrush	1
Teal	8
Tufted Duck	10
Wigeon	2
Woodpigeon	4