Bittern, Spoonbills and Pectoral Sandpiper at RSPB Leighton Moss – 16th July 2019
We had not got out that much this month, apart from our visit to Dove Stone Reservoir on the 4th, so I looked up the reports and discovered that a Pectoral Sandpiper had been seen at Leighton Moss. With a bit of a hot, sunny day predicted, we decided to head up there with high hopes of getting one of the less common waders and one we had not seen yet, this year. In fact I did not see one in 2018 so it was a bird I wanted to see.
Fortunately it was very obliging and had been showing well from the Allen hide, down at the sea hides. We stopped off briefly at the visitor centre and then drove straight down there. We immediately got very good views of the bird who was very active but stayed close to the hide just off to the right.
There were also the usual very high numbers of Black-tailed Godwits and other nice birds we got from this hide included a Greenshank and a couple of Common Snipe. There wer a fair number of Avocets.
Moving on to the Eric Morecambe Hide – at least partly as a result of getting fed up with the incessant chatter of some people in the hide, we also got three Spoonbills at the far end of the scrape. They were mostly roosting but occasionally one of them would wake up for a preen before returning to sleep.
Even more Black-tailed Godwits were here amidst quite a few Redshanks. There were good numbers of Knot and fewer Dunlin and we also got a couple of Common Sandpipers.
After having another quick look at the Pectoral Sandpiper, we returned to the main reserve and took the boardwalk down to the Public Hide. En route we heard Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler and saw a Marsh Harrier cross in front of us.
When we got to the public hide we were amazed that the Black-headed Gulls had almost all gone and it was very peaceful. There were a few ducks including a Little Grebe family and there was some excitement when someone thought they had an Osprey in the trees right at the back. On further examination it looked more like a juvenile Marsh Harrier. A Buzzard also glided overhead but the excitement really grew when a couple of the reserve staff spotted a Bittern off to the left at the water’s edge. We managed to get the scope on it and let others have a look then, suddenly, it got up and took to the air flying about a hundred yards before dropping back down into the reed bed and out of sight.
This was pretty much the culmination of the day and abeautiful sunny day ot had been with Pectoral Sandpiper, Spoonbill and Bittern you really can’t complain!
Bird Sightings Bird Sightings RSPB Leighton Moss – Allen Hide 16th July 2019
| Common Shelduck | 2 |
| Pied Avocet | 20 |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | 3 |
| Northern Lapwing | 30 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 500 |
| Pectoral Sandpiper | 1 |
| Common Snipe | 2 |
| Common Greenshank | 1 |
| Common Redshank | 80 |
Bird Sightings Bird Sightings RSPB Leighton Moss – Eric Morecambe Hide 16th July 2019
| Greylag Goose | 14 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 400 |
| Red Knot | 60 |
| Dunlin | 8 |
| Common Sandpiper | 2 |
| Common Redshank | 20 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Little Egret | 14 |
| Eurasian Spoonbill | 3 |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 |
Bird Sightings Bird Sightings RSPB Leighton Moss – Public Hide16th July 2019
| Gadwall | 10 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Common Teal | 1 |
| Little Grebe | 3 |
| Common Moorhen | 2 |
| Common Coot | 2 |
| Black-headed Gull | 2 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 2 |
| Great Cormorant | 2 |
| Great Bittern | 1 |
| Eurasian Marsh Harrier | 1 |
| Common Buzzard | 1 |
| Carrion Crow | 2 |
| Common Starling | 8 |
| Pied Wagtail | 2 |
Bird Sightings Bird Sightings RSPB Leighton Moss – Environs 16th July 2019
| Mute Swan | 2 |
| Gadwall | 20 |
| Mallard | 40 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 4 |
| Eurasian Collared Dove | 2 |
| Common Coot | 6 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 3 |
| Eurasian Marsh Harrier | 1 |
| Sand Martin | 20 |
| Barn Swallow | 30 |
| Common House Martin | 12 |
| Coal Tit | 1 |
| Eurasian Blue Tit | 6 |
| Great Tit (Great) | 2 |
| Eurasian Wren | 3 |
| Willow Warbler | 1 |
| Common Chiffchaff | 1 |
| Sedge Warbler | 1 |
| European Robin | 1 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Pied Wagtail | 3 |