RSPB Leighton Moss and Arnside : 26th – 27th August 2014

RSPB Leighton Moss : 8th – 9th August 2014

Some nice recent sitings at Leighton Moss tempted us up there but it’s quite a long drive and we wanted to have a full day there so we decided to take advantage of the high tide by staying overnight and having two shots as the RSPB reserve as well as having a bit of an away day. We stayed at Ye Old Fighting Cocks at Arnside which was pretty cheap, had reasonable food and beer and was nicely situated so some of the rooms overlook “the lake” that is to say the Kent Channel which feeds into Morecambe Bay, itself quite an interesting place for birds at the right time of year and tide. But our interest mainly lay in what we could see at RSPB Leighton Moss.

We dropped in at reception as soon as we got there thinking that we could a have a quick look at Lilian’s Hide before going down to the coastal hides for the high tides. This was around 11am and it was just as well that we asked because although the tide tables said that high tide at Arnside and Morecambe Bay was 1pm, it turns out that at the precise spot where the sea hides are at Leighton Moss is only twenty minutes after high tide at Gladstone Dock in Liverpool. This meant that the high tide was immanent at about 11.30am ! This is a very interesting fact to know and not really that intuitive. In fact by the time we got down to the hides the water was pretty much all the way in. At the Allen Hide this was not particularly obvious because the water there seems to be pretty shallow at the best of times. This tide was only 8.9m at Gladstone Docks but when we moved on down to the Eric Morecambe Hide it was much better.

A fair sized flock of Redshank were feeding and amongst them were a pair of Spotted Redshank showing very well. We also caught sight of a pair of Greenshank that we had seen frantically feeding at the Allen Hide. A flock of Dunlin concealed an odd Ruff.

Looking out in the direction of the sea there was a fair number of Lapwing and on the far side of the water there was a mini roost of about two dozen Little Egrets. The usual roost of Black-tailed Godwits – around 80 – were sleeping with the odd Oystercatcher flock appearing and disappearing. A few Cormorant popped in and out and all the Lapwings were got up by a Sparrowhawk that flew through. Anne saw a Kingfisher fly past but I missed it. There were still some Swallows around and we also got a view of a Kestrel hovering over the marshes..

We decided that we needed a cup of teas so we headed back to the reserve cafe where we had lunch and then we headed off for Lillian’s Hide where we had hopes of seeing a Great White Egret and other interesting birds. It didn’t take long before the Great White Egret appeared and we watched a bit of a tussle between a Grey Heron and the Egret. I always rather thought  that they were about the same size but I think this is an illusion caused by the length of the Egret’s neck. In fact the Grey Heron is a bigger bird. This did not seem to put the Egret off however. It just flew around in a circle and landed again more or less where it had been before it was chased off. Annoyingly for the Heron it seemed to be much better at catching fish and we watched as it caught a couple of quite big fish. Another birder in the hide reckoned that it was a Pike !

The other birds we were particularly hoping to see were the breeding Water Rails and we did not have to wait more than a few seconds before a chick came out of the greenery at the edge of the nearest island to the hide. We sat for quite a while looking at this island and in the end we saw a couple of juveniles and a couple of adults moving around and between the islands.

We did drop down to the other hides nearby but as a result of habitat management to make it better for Bitterns to breed, so from the Grisedale Hide there was not water to be seen at all. They intend to dry it out completely and hope that the reeds then grow back less densely which means that small fish can get in between the reeds which is apparently a requirment for breeding Bitterns as they need to feed their young from within the reed bed. There was a notice explaining it all. Down at the Tim Jackson Hide it wasn’t much better so we thought we would go over to the Public Hide where we had heard there had been an Osprey feeding. Well, we didn’t manage to see that but we did see an Otter which was enjoyable. Bird-wise a small group of Little Grebes and one of Tufted Ducks were amongst larger numbers of Mallards and Gadwall. A few Mute Swans and that was it.

However we had had a pretty good day and because we didn’t have to get home before rush hour we were able to take our time and cover all the hides.

We checked in at Ye Old Fighting Cocks at Arnside and had a little walk along the prom before getting cleaned up and dressed for dinner.

The next morning we took a walk along the prom to the far end and then onto the shore. The tide was still quite low so the birds were a long way out. There were Shelducks and Great black-backed and Herring Gulls but the highlight of our walk was watching a pair of Ravens – one on a tree close to us and the other one out on a sandbank in the middle of the Channel calling to each other.

We returned to the reserve and to the Eric Morecambe Hide again where the birding was much the same as the previous day but we were greatly put out by a group of half a dozen photographers who were obviously ensconced for the day in the best positions for looking at the waders. As if this was not enough one of them insisted on having a really long monologue in a loud whisper which was marked by an amazing ability to talk continuously without stopping for air. It was so annoying that I had to leave. We went back to the Allen Hide but it was quiet there – in both senses of the word.

We headed back to the main reserve where we visited Lillian;s hide where we got good views of some of the same birds as the previous day with the addition of a pair of Ruff and a pair of Spotted Redshank. It seemed a bit like just doing what we had done the previous day but the great joy of staying overnight was not having to leave early and being able to take our time and look at all the hides.

Bird Sightings : Leighton Moss : Eric Morecambe Hide

Bird Sightings : Leighton Moss : Lillian’s Hide

Bird Sightings : Leighton Moss : Public Hide

Bird Sightings : Leighton Moss : Environs

Bird Sightings : Arnside