Birding Group Trip to Moore Nature Reserve and Planning Session 9 Dec 2025
The 9th of December was our last birding group morning out before Christmas and we chose to go to Moore Nature Reserve. It was a very inauspicious weather forecast but, in fact, it wasn’t too bad.
We parked in the car park and awaited the other members of the group. As we did so, we got a Redwing on a tree in the dog field right in front of us – a late year tick! When the others arrived we set off across the dog field and down to the first hide which was pretty ramshackle with the benches destroyed and the whole thing so sunken into the ground that it was only just possible to stand up inside it. In any case, there wasn’t anything of interest there.
The others walked on but I opted to take a slow walk back to the car. In doing so I got a Jay and a Sparrowhawk and some more Redwing. Back at the car I got an even better view of a Redwing on the same tree as before but, as I was watching it through my bins, a Buzzard swooped down on it in an unsuccessful attempt to get a meal.
I walked down the long path to the other hide which at least had some benches to sit on and I got better views of some Wigeon, a single Tufted Duck and lots of Mallards. A Little Grebe called out loudly though I couldn’t see it anywhere.
I returned to the car and it wasn’t long before the others returned and we headed off to “Pesto at The Walton Arms” where we had booked a table for the group to have lunch and plan our next session for the new year – see next post. We were quite impressed with the food and the prices so we thought that we might do a planning session one time after going to Burton Mere Wetlands since there is a Pesto at the Yacht Inn on the main road back from Burton between Teo Mills and the M56. We have passed this many times thinking it would not suit us but everyone seemed to enjoy the menu so perhaps it would make a good change sometime. In fact some photos show a (rainy) open air terrace at the back that we were unaware of.