RSPB Leighton Moss 14 May 2024

The birding group had arranged to go to RSPB Leighton Moss on 14 May but a bad weather report put everyone off. We had already booked a room at Ye Old Fighting Cocks in Silverdale (don’t say here again) and it was too late to cancel, so we decided to go ahead on our own while the birding group went to Burton Mere Wetlands.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the 90% chance of heavy rain turned out to occasional light showers and in fact the drive up to Carnforth was quite good and went quicker than we expected.

We stopped off for a cup of tea first and then headed down to the Causeway hide where we had read that there had been Hobbies and three Ospreys on a previous day. We weren’t so lucky just getting the one Osprey, perched in the dead tree at the back of the lake. A characteristic of the day was constant booming of Bitterns all over the site; probably the most Bittern booming I have heard. While we were in the Causeway hide one broke cover and flew to the reeds at the right of the hide. All this within the first hour of being on the reserve!

As we walked back through the reed bed Sedge and Reed warblers were singing but we did not see any Bearded Tits; it wasn’t the best of weather for them so we were not surprised. We dropped in at Lilian’s Hide but the water was quite high and there wasn’t much to see there.

We continued on to the Griesdale and Tim Jackson Hides and managed to get a Marsh Harrier eventually; normally you would expect to see lots of them but I suppose the weather was a bit off-putting for them. We got a good range of ducks, a Snipe but nothing more exotic.

We then drove down to the Eric Morecambe hide that overlooks the salt marsh and there was the usual large numbers of Black-tailed Godwits roosting there but there were some Bar-tails and some Knot mixed in with them. After a lot of searching we eventually found a Spoonbill way at the back hunting in one of the many rivulets that run through the marsh. There were also a fair number of Avocets there and as a parting shot we got nice views of a Whitethroat singing from a tree near the path back to the car park.

We paid a quick visit to Wharton Crags to see if we could get a Peregrine but we had to settle for a Kestrel.

The afternoon was getting along and we decides about 3:30 to go to Ye Old Fighting Cocks in Silverdale where we had a quick drink and checked in. I had a protracted discussion with the passive-aggressive landlord about the fact that the wifi wasn’t working in our room and after him suggesting that our devices weren’t working properly, that we had to switch them on and off,  clear our ip addresses from our phones (??) he had, eventually, to inform us that BT had said his router was dead. He expected us to admire his “taking responsibility for the issue when he could just have ignored us. A total prick of the Basil Fawlty variety. The room was filthy and dim and the restaurant food was rubbish. Don’t go back there!

Bird Sightings : RSPB Leighton Moss 14 May 2024

Species	No
Avocet	20
Bar-tailed Godwit	6
Bittern	1
Black-headed Gull	50
Black-tailed Godwit	250
Blackbird	2
Blue Tit	4
Carrion Crow	4
Cetti's Warbler	3
Chiffchaff	2
Coot	2
Cormorant	1
Gadwall	2
Great Black-backed Gull	4
Great Crested Grebe	2
Great Tit	3
Grey Heron	1
Greylag Goose	10
Jackdaw	30
Kestrel	1
Knot	20
Lapwing	20
Little Egret	2
Magpie	2
Mallard	8
Marsh Harrier	1
Mute Swan	4
Osprey	1
Oystercatcher	10
Pheasant	1
Pied Wagtail	1
Pochard	10
Reed Warbler	2
Robin	2
Sedge Warbler	1
Shelduck	10
Snipe	1
Song Thrush	1
Spoonbill	1
Starling	7
Swift	20
Tufted Duck	6
Whitethroat	1
Willow Warbler	1
Wren	1

Bird Sightings : Silverdale 14 May 2024

Species	No
Collared Dove	2
Dunnock	1
House Martin	14
House Sparrow	20
Starling	20
Swallow	10
Swift	20
Woodpigeon	4