Leighton Moss

Made my third visit to Leighton Moss today. Better weather than on my last visit , a mixture of sunshine and a few showers. Unfortunately the paths to several of the hides were still flooded from last week's rain , so they were only accessible if you had wellies. It's a big reserve so we probably wouldn't have had time to visit them all anyway.

This is the view from the first hide we went in. Lillian's Hide.

There was a Marsh Harrier hunting at the far side of the lake but it never came close enough for good phot0s

After circling a couple of times it landed on a tree stump.

It sat there for quite a while preening and looking around.

In front of the hide was a young Great Crested Grebe , A couple of Shovelers ,  lots of Teal and more Coots than you could count.

Moving on from there we went to the saltmarsh hides. This is the view from the band new Allen hide.

This is the interior of the new Eric Morecambe hide.

Lots of waders , mostly Redshanks I think

Greylag geese and some ducks , possibly Gadwall and Teal.

Mergansers

Gadwall ?

Greenshank

Apparently the menu was rather restricted today. Everything was eating crabs

Crow

Sandpiper

... and a Curlew flew in for another crab

Finally , a Heron waiting for his lunch to arrive