For those of you still yet to see the wonderful long flights of our nesting bittern, there is still time with the female still making consistent flights across the reserve and down to Barrow Scout in search of food. Whilst the go-to place on the reserve for spotting the bittern is Lower Hide, with the nest located to right of the hide. Sightings have also been made from Lilians Hide, Skytower and elsewhere across the reserve so don’t let the walk down to Lower Hide put you off. (Pic by Simon Elliott).
Ospreys are regular visitors, flying down from Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Foulshaw Moss site most days to catch food for their growing young. Our marsh harriers are continuing to provide stunning views across the reserve; a number of great photos have been posted to our Facebook group page of the males bringing food to any of the four nests we have on site.
Sightings of kingfisher at Lower Hide remain consistent, as are the great crested grebes in front of the Causeway Hide, whilst blackcaps, reed and sedge warblers continue to provide the sound track to the reserve. Following World Otter Day (May 29) our resident otters continue to provide stunning views at the Causeway Pool. Regular sightings of deer and tawny owl continue.
Down on the salt marsh pools, there are still around 500 black-tailed godwits, as well as a small number of knot and sightings of greenshank and bar-tailed godwits continue to be reported. More unusually sightings of both little gull and Mediterranean gull have been reported over recent days, in addition to sightings of the local peregrines. In avocet news, the numbers of successful avocet chicks has remained constant at approximately 20 over the past week, spread across the back flood and the Eric and Allen pools. (Pic by David Mower).
Finally for those of you who would be interested in improving your identification skills, learning how to identify species by song, or simply finding more out about Leighton Moss, our Singing and Ringing Guided Wildlife Walk will be held once again on Saturday 8 June, giving you the opportunity to listen to the variety of morning bird song. In addition you can observe trained experts catching and ringing birds as part of an ongoing study. On Sunday 16 June you can join our Birdsong for Beginners event where you will learn more about bird song on the reserve and test your identification skills. For more information visit our events pages.
Lucy Ryan