Day 4 - Leighton Moss RSPB (MC Pics)

We arrived nice and early on the Tuesday morning and while Mike remained in the car (there were two pairs of wellies between the three of us), Hazel and I went along the Causeway to see if the Beardies were about. We heard them and also a loud Cetti's Warbler, which I also saw taking flight, but the Beardies refused to come out of the reeds. We continued to the public hide (stopping for me to hand feed a Robin) and once there, we saw an Otter just to the right of the hide and (briefly) directly in front of it. It then disappeared. We also saw distant Marsh Harriers from the hide. After about an hour and a half we headed back towards the main road and then on to the visitor centre for a snack (after I had fed the PTR's). Mike and I returned to the Causeway, while Hazel went back to the feeding log after the success of the previous day. This time, I was lucky. The Beardies appeared, two males and a female and once again I saw the Cetti's Warbler flitting about in the rushes on the other side of the road. The Public Hide proved a success once again, as we saw the Otter on the far side of the lake and also a Snipe in the scrape to the right. We continued through the water to the Lower Hide, but there was little to see other than a lone Heron and a couple of Mallards. We did encounter many Robins and what I assume was a juvenile Pheasant, which followed us along the pathway.

Not an inspiring start to the day, but appearances can be deceptive

The first sighting of the Otter

Is this a Lesser or Greater Black Backed Gull?

I tried practising my 'in flight' photography from the hide. This Cormorant obliged.

It's a start lol

Distant Marsh Harrier

...and another

Back to the car to collect more mealies under the watchful eye of one of the Car Park Robins

A little later in the day and the Bearded Tits made an appearance. Mike and I were the only ones there when they first showed. We passed Jim on the Causeway and more arrived while he was there

There was even time for a Beardie Bottoms Up!

Snipe, photo cropped and adjusted

Distant Otter

Robin at the far end of the Causeway

This is the Male Pheasant which escorted Mike and I along the path towards the Lower Hide (and back again)

Lured out by mealies

The canal path to the Lower Hide

Nothing else to be seen from the lower hide apart from the Mallard and Heron

Robins, take note!

Yes, that includes you!

If the Robins were too slow to fly down for mealies, then the Pheasants would get there first!

Back to the Causeway

Robin at the end of the new pontoon path through the rushes to the Causeway

After a final goodbye to the PTR's, we headed to the bay area, where we saw (amongst others) Redshank and Little Egret

There are a couple of videos of the PTR's. I'll put them on their own thread a bit later.