Brockholes Nature Reserve 15 May 2024
On the 15th May we left Ye Old Fighting Cocks pub and drove down to RSPB Leighton Moss. We were hoping for another sighting of the Osprey but we were out of luck. The Bitterns were all booming away and it was quite a dry hour or so we spent there. We didn’t see anything very different to the previous day apart from excellent views of a Cetti’s Warbler perched at eye level inside a bush but clearly visible. I watched it for quite a while as it sang it’s heart out and got such a detailed look at it that I think I added to my ID skills quite a lot as far as Cetti’s go.
A quick visit to the visitor’s centre for a comfort stop and then we drove down to Hest Bank. Never having been there, we were interested to see what the big reputation was about. Unfortunately it was low tide and raining by then so I don’t think we saw it ia it’s best; there was nothing much to see.
Instead of lingering, we headed off to Brockholes Nature Reserve near Preston which would usefully break up our drive back home and who knows what we might see there? By the time we got there it was actually a very sunny and warm day – a bit too warm for wearing waterproofs. As it turned out, we didn’t need the waterproofs as the weather held out for us.
As we walked down to the visitor centre there was loud singing coming from the small trees near the path. At first I thought I could hear a Blackcap singing but further examination showed it to be a Garden Warbler. In the same trees was a Willow Warbler and a pair of Long-tailed Tits.
Unfortunately the café was closed but we had our own
supplies anyway so we had a spot of lunch at one of the outside tables and then
headed down to the “Lookout” where the In Focus shop is. The first birds we saw
were a good number of Sand Martins which have colonised the artificial bank
just outside the hide. It wasn’t long before Bernie Starkie (from In Focus)
asked us if we had seen the Hobby that had just flown through. We actually
missed that one but caught another on a fly through shortly after. Although
there aren’t many Dragonflies around, they also like Sand Martins!
On the Tern Raft a few Common Terns had actually managed to set up nests without being evicted by Black-headed Gulls.
There wasn’t a lot else to see from this hide but we walked along to the next hide. In the bushes there were plenty of birds singing including Blackcap, Blackbird, Willow Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Wren and Robin. At the hide we got better views of the ducks; nothing particularly interesting but a nice smattering of them including a pair of Wigeon; there were a couple of Oystercatchers but otherwise not much in the way of waders. As we sat at the hide, a Reed Bunting was singing and at the end of each song burst a Robin would reply making it sound like it was the song of a single bird. We could see the Reed Bunting clearly, so it wasn’t the case – it was very entertaining to listen to.
We were getting a bit tired by then so couldn’t bring ourselves to walk round the woods; it felt like we had probably heard most of the songbirds already just with the small walk we took.
Over the two days – 14th & 15th May we managed to see or hear sixty-one species of birds.
Bird Sightings : Brockholes Nature Reserve 15 May 2024
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Blackbird | 3 |
| Blackcap | 1 |
| Black-headed Gull | 30 |
| Canada Goose | 10 |
| Cetti's Warbler | 1 |
| Chiffchaff | 2 |
| Common Tern | 4 |
| Coot | 2 |
| Garden Warbler | 1 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 4 |
| Great Tit | 2 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Greylag Goose | 6 |
| Hobby | 1 |
| Jackdaw | 10 |
| Lapwing | 6 |
| Long-tailed Tit | 2 |
| Magpie | 2 |
| Mallard | 10 |
| Mute Swan | 4 |
| Oystercatcher | 4 |
| Redshank | 2 |
| Reed Bunting | 1 |
| Robin | 2 |
| Sand Martin | 20 |
| Starling | 20 |
| Wigeon | 2 |
| Willow Warbler | 2 |
| Wren | 2 |
Bird Sightings : 14th and 15th May 2024
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| 1 | Avocet |
| 2 | Bar-tailed Godwit |
| 3 | Bittern |
| 4 | Blackbird |
| 5 | Blackcap |
| 6 | Black-headed Gull |
| 7 | Black-tailed Godwit |
| 8 | Blue Tit |
| 9 | Canada Goose |
| 10 | Carrion Crow |
| 11 | Cetti's Warbler |
| 12 | Chiffchaff |
| 13 | Collared Dove |
| 14 | Common Tern |
| 15 | Coot |
| 16 | Cormorant |
| 17 | Dunnock |
| 18 | Gadwall |
| 19 | Garden Warbler |
| 20 | Great Black-backed Gull |
| 21 | Great Crested Grebe |
| 22 | Great Tit |
| 23 | Grey Heron |
| 24 | Greylag Goose |
| 25 | Hobby |
| 26 | House Martin |
| 27 | House Sparrow |
| 28 | Jackdaw |
| 29 | Kestrel |
| 30 | Knot |
| 31 | Lapwing |
| 32 | Little Egret |
| 33 | Long-tailed Tit |
| 34 | Magpie |
| 35 | Mallard |
| 36 | Marsh Harrier |
| 37 | Mute Swan |
| 38 | Osprey |
| 39 | Oystercatcher |
| 40 | Pheasant |
| 41 | Pied Wagtail |
| 42 | Pochard |
| 43 | Redshank |
| 44 | Reed Bunting |
| 45 | Reed Warbler |
| 46 | Robin |
| 47 | Sand Martin |
| 48 | Sedge Warbler |
| 49 | Shelduck |
| 50 | Snipe |
| 51 | Song Thrush |
| 52 | Spoonbill |
| 53 | Starling |
| 54 | Swallow |
| 55 | Swift |
| 56 | Tufted Duck |
| 57 | Whitethroat |
| 58 | Wigeon |
| 59 | Willow Warbler |
| 60 | Woodpigeon |
| 61 | Wren |