Last week we headed up to north Lancashire visiting Leighton Moss rspb each day (except Tuesday where the weather was pants ! ) During 4 days we saw 41 different species, heard 7 more species (including Hawfinch, Green Woodpecker and Tawny Owl and we saw an Otter at the back of the Causeway pool and a Weasel on the path to T.Jackson hide. The highlights were a Ring-necked Duck on the main reserve viewed from Causeway Hide and a Jack Snipe seen with difficulty from the Allen Hide at Morecambe Bay. Took me over an hour to get eyes on the Jack Snipe and mainly thanks to a very nice young chap that gave precise guidance as to its location. It was well hidden, really only seeing its head and crown when it preened. here are photos of our 4 days which I will add a few at a time ...........
Firstly poor distant record only photos of the R-n-Duck and the hard to see Jack snipe .......
You can ID the Jack from the Common by the broad chocolate band on its crown; common has a golden band split down the middle.
Has to be one of the hardest birds to see with their shy behaviour and fabulous camouflage ....
Much easier to see were the Common Snipe which is a little larger and has that pale stripe down the centre of the crown ........... seen from Lilian's Hide
A pair of Pintail Ducks were also at Lilian's pool ..
then sailing the other direction !
From Causeway hide you could see the building progress of a brand new hide to replace the very old Lower Hide; this should be open to the public around the end of February, fingers crossed !
Apparently, the build has taken a lot longer when they found the driving down of 9 metres of metal supports didn't reach the bottom so not sure if the hide position was moved back slightly or more metal rod length was added - Nothing is straight-forward when building in wetland areas. !!
Back with more photos shortly ................
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Regards, Hazel
Lovely shots Hazel and some great sightings
Lovely start Hazel... LM is top of my list of UK places to visit I think ..... Apart from Linda's garden
Great photo's of the common snipe and pintails Hazy. I have not seen either of them very often.
A few more photos taken last week ..... starting with the woodland birds....
Out of all the woodland birds I have to say the Marsh Tit is my favourite ........
this MT was ringed
Can't go more than two metres at LM without encountering a confiding robin !!
Mike's favourite woodland birds is the Treecreeper with its fantastic camouflage
Managed to locate a single female siskin in the Alder tree
Once upon a time a rare sighting but now you see Great Egrets all over UK
down at the salt marsh Mike spotted a patch of Scarlet Elf Cap fungi ....
and to round up the thread a few photos of the Marsh Harriers; quite distant most of the time so had to hard crop the pics .....
Heading back to north Lancashire at the end of February so we'll see if what turns up then, thanks for the kind comments and viewing this thread.
Great set and sightings Hazel
Lovely selection of photo's Hazy.
Super update, thanks Hazel
You certainly had a lovely visit to LM, lovely pictures as well. The wee Marsh Tit is a lovely looking bird and the markings and colours on the Pin Tail Ducks are beautiful, thanks for sharing your trip with us.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Great photos Hazel nice photo of the male pintail
Lovely photo of the Robin and the marsh tit Hazel in fact all your photos were great