Yesterday, visited Warton 1st about 1.15p.m. Osprey over and good views of Peregrine. Then onto Leighton, quiet but did see 2 Bearded Tit flying over reeds and the Marsh Harriers.
Cheers Ian

Spent a couple of hours around the reserve this afternoon (14:00-16:30), cracking sunshine and good birds too. Very quiet down the Eric Morecombe Hide area, mostly due to there being little water on the main scrapes, but 30 BT Godwits, 10 redshank, 4 Avocet and 4 Little Egret of note. Brilliant views of a very obliging Lesser Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler on my way back to the carpark too .

Back on the main reserve I strolled slowly along the Causeway listing to all the Reed Warblers and was rewarded with some wonderfully close views. Overhead two different male Marsh Harriers were soaring over the reed tops, occassionally being chased by Lapwings, Crows and Jackdaws, but lovely to watch them hunting. I heard Bearded Tit several times, but couldn't get a glimpse of them, but with chiffchaff, willow warbler, reed warbler, sedge warbler, reed bunting and a distant cuckoo all calling at some point between the public hide and the lower hide there was always something of interest .

Great to see both Bugle and Cowslip in flower near the Lower hide and a spanking yellow female Broad-bodied Chaser flying about too!?

Spotted Redshank. 4 Avocets,and lots of Blackwits at Eric Morecombe.
Grasshopper warbler by the Griesdale path.
A Savi's warbler somewhere in the vicinity, according to a boring southern git in one of the hides.

15/4/10

Reserve only, 07:00 - 14:00

Of the many species seen (53), things of note included:

5 Marsh Harriers (2m), including a satellite tagged female
7 Bearded Tits along the Public Causeway
1 Peregrine
3 Marsh Tit
5 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
10+ Shelduck
2 Oystercatcher
2 Great Black-backed Gulls on territory again
2+ Great Crested Grebe
3 Great Spotted Woodpecker
Mallard duck with 10 chicks
Usual migrants - Blackcaps, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Swallows...

todays highlights were...

Marsh harriers, male and female showing well today, little egrets, swallows, sand martins and a couple of house martins, single spotted redshank hiding in all the redshanks, hundreds of them from eric morcambe, lots of black tailed godwits, single goldeneye red brested mergansers and all the usual stuff, Nice to meet Jim today, another manchester birder tick

-- Edited by Dennis atherton on Monday 5th of April 2010 06:01:51 PM

Early morning visit to Leighton but 1st called at Sizergh where I had excellent views of 8 Hawfinch in the car park at 7.45a.m.
At Allen/Morcambe hides there were 100's of Black-tailed Godwits, some in breeding plumage (no sign of any Bar-tailed as seen by the last poster) and 100's of Redshank also, just 4 Avocet, many Shelduck smaller numbers of Pintail, Gadwall, Teal, Pochard, Shoveler and 4 Little Egret. At Leighton proper the only other birds of note were an excellent female Marsh Harrier giving good views in the rain, Goldeneye and a large flock of Sand Martins flying very high, 100+ birds.
Cheers Ian

Originally posted by Mark Cain at 9:08pm, 18th March

3 little egrets and a single great white egret in front of Griesdale Hide all this afternoon; along with a single male peregrine that was showing off brilliantly to a hide-full of eager spectators. It spent at least 2 hours intermittently swooping from one dead tree to another and preening, only about 50m in front of us, allowing for some half decent photo's.

I popped in to Leighton Moss for an hour or so to see what was about. Pretty quite, as was just after low tide, so few waders about, but 6 Avocet now on the scrapes, a single Spotted Redshank and lots of Redshank, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and the like on the Eric Morcombe area.

Up to the centre and watched the feeding station for 5-10 minutes, but only 1 Marsh Tit showed very briefly, but lots of the usual finches, tits and Nuthatch etc.

Walked over to the Tim Jackson hide, 3 Red Deer, a Raven and not much else, but not been to that hide in a while. The GWE had been seen from that hide earlier in the day, but was in the reeds/pools out of sight somewhere .

Met a nice lad studying an MA in Environment and Ornothology at MMU, also called Sean, and told him to sign up to the Forum etc, so if you read this send me a message once you've signed up and if you need any advice on your course or career advice later on let me know and I'll be happy to help, as I'm sure the wider GMForum folk will .

The Snow Geese still there today & Great White Egret back on the reserve seen from the Tim Jackson hide, great to see my friend still getting the rarities.

I dont think their locked Holly, certainly the public hide wont be locked, im sure they would be open at first light, are you after your next bogey bird?

Bittern showing really well from the Lilian hide.Other hides pretty quiet when we were there.--Nice to see the marsh tits on the feeders-----[talking of feeding-had a cracking lancashire cheese and chutney sarnie in the cafe!]

A very wet day produced nothing out of the ordinary - in fact it was pretty pants.

No Sign of the snow geese anywhere on the reserve, apparently they are in 'some other fileds'.

Cettis warbler was reported singing along the causeway, but I didnt hear it.

Bittern was reported at least twice from Lilians, but I wasnt in at the time.

Otters hd been reported from the public and lower hides earlier in the week, but not today.

Good numbers of black-tailed godwits from the Allen/Morecambe hides, but other than that just the usual expected wildfowl, although I have to say 4 red deer (including 3 stags with HUGE antlers) was pretty impressive from the Tim Jackson Hide.

-- Edited by Craig Higson on Friday 26th of February 2010 09:24:37 PM

Only had an hour or so up there this afternoon, as off to watch Everton v Chelsea later at Goodison!

The 4 Snow Geese were with Greylag in the fields on the apporach to Silverdale, as were a few Little Egrets overhead. Lots of activity on the bird feeder at the reserve centre, with Bullfinches and Long-tailed Tits feeding on the seeds and nuts respectively. A lone Marsh Tit made a brief appearance which was worth the wait, though I think I was the only one who appreciated this little brown job !

A quick stroll up the causeway brought lots of very tame Robins in close proximity while I was trying to listen out for Cetti's Warblers, but I had not bread or seed to feed them today, always a joy though! I did hear a distant Bearded Tit though, but no sign of it as is usually the case .

Bonus from the public hide was a brief Bittern flying into reeds, followed by two different birds showing in different locations, one coming out and strolling up a small channel in full view, while another came out and fished a little before being very skulky and hidden, but eventually showing well for me and all others in the hide. Not seen that many Bittern in a single sitting for a long while, definetely worth the visit .

it was still pretty icy yesterday but even the local bus managed it so i think it should be fine

yesterday 9.30am to 2pm

all lakes frozen including marshs near the sea.
only duck of interest was a lone female goldeneye at Lillian's
however other highlights included:
From lower hide:
a distant roosting barn owl
a peregrine
flocks of siskin and bullfinch around
From Tim Jackson hide:
a water rail boldly slipping about on ice no more than 10 yards from hide
feeding station:
marsh tit and nuthatch

Much the same as everyone else of late who have reported on the area. Arrived at Sizergh Castle car park 0730 and straight onto 6 Hawfinch in a Hornbeam opposite the cafe - three more joined and they dispersed but were around and about for the hour or so I was there. There was also a nice little flock of Redwing. On the River Kent had several sightings of Dipper with 3 on view at the same time. I had forgotten what a pleasant area this is.

Then to Leighton Moss where 4 Greenshank were in front of the public hide and Marsh Tit and Bullfinch at the feeding station. The guy who has been doing the Bearded Tit survey said that as far as he was aware it was the first day since they started visiting the grit trays this autumn that they hadn't put in a morning appearance. The 4 Snow Geese amongst the flock of Greylags were only visible from the crag road viewpoint whereas the 3 Great White Egrets could be seen from the Morcambe hide as could 100's of Blackwit, 4 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Pintail but only 3 Little Egret. Also present a Peregrine on a post and a hunting Merlin.

Stopped at Pine Lake but didn't hang around too long in the rain - no sign of the Slav Grebe.



-- Edited by sid ashton on Thursday 12th of November 2009 07:55:38 PM

sunday the 8th, saw 3 goldeneye constantly diving and the usual stuff,a single kingfisher flew by, beardeds were showing around tenish on the trays, nothing really of note

but from eric morcambe hide had good veiws of dunlin and black tailed godwits mixed in with all the redshank, a few greenshank, also three great egrets and some snow geese mixed with the red breasted mergansers, best veiw of the day was a lovely merlin sat on the post quite close and got some good photos even though in the rain,

saturday 7th 2009

Spent the morning driving up the m6 in torrential rain wondering if i should emigrate. Thanks goes to Vernon for cheering me up with bon bons,pontefract cakes and licourice toffees
Our mission today were the Hawfinch at sizergh castle and a Tarts tick the snow geese at the eric and ernie hides
First visit to sizargh which i thought was a brill place early morning rewarded us with at least 6 Hawfinch lifers for us both, showing from the carpark .Lots of other stuff around ,tree creeper,nuthatch,tits,bullfinch,chaffinch,jay,sparrrowhawk and my first this winter redwingsand best of all the persistant rain had turned into showers.
Onto mission 2 the snow geese. I must admit for a lifer i wasnt too excited with these birds but who knows were they have come from? maybe if they turn up at some lake and come to bread i would then scratch them from my list.Anyway its nice not dipping for a change and again its not just about the birds met some really nice people again and got some more good tips on birding
Other birds at eric morcome hide were 3 great white egrets,little egrets,greenshank,redshank,dunlin, red breasted mergansers and all the usual wildfowl.
Stopped off on the way home at pine lake which had tufties,pochard ,goldeneye,great crested grebe,goosanders but no signs of the slav grebe after anhour searching

There are several escaped Snow geese wandering around Bowland and North Lancashire. But if they are living in the wild we can tick them - cant we? I saw them at Brockholes a couple of weeks ago.

Spent the morning here today.
From Morcambe hide; 1000+ Blacktailed Godwit, 5 Greenshank, lots of Redshank, Teal, Wigeon, Greylag, Curlew, Shoveler, Little Egrets( no sign of Great White, there were 3 yesterday) and a Peregrine repeatedly putting up all the birds, a tremendous site.
At Leighton all the usual, best being Marsh Tits at the feeders and 2 Bearded Tits at the Grit trays.
Cheers Ian

Visited yesterday (21st Oct) with Simon Johnson.

2 X Great White Egrets still present, 1 Eric Morecombe pool, 1 showing well Griesdale Hide. 150+ Wigeon from Lillians hide. 5+ Pintail, 20+ Little Egrets.
Slav Grebe still at Nearby Pine Lake.

Then on to Cockersands where Simon's keen eye picked up the Long Billed Dowitcher although distant, also male Scaup on the Lune Estuary and Common Sand and Spotted Redshank Conder Green.

Yes as Jonathon says, Saturday is definitely a good day to visit. Never ever go near Sizergh in school holidays - not a bird in sight!

Gary Gorner wrote:

---

hi ann when you say the house is closed on saturdays do you meen that satudays is a good day to see the bids or a bad day .

---

Probably a good day!

As far as I know Gary you can always access the grounds, but the house is closed on Saturdays and after November, as Anne suggests. The car park is usually closed when the house is closed, but I drive up and park on the road near the entrance to the car park, otherwise you could park outside the entrance to the grounds (near the pub) and walk up to the house and car park (only five minutes). The hawfinches are attracted to the hornbeams in the car park, as are many other species. If you drive (or walk) under the A591 (Nannypie Lane) you'll come to the River Kent which usually holds dipper, grey wag, etc. The whole area's decent for birding, I don't go enough!

This map might help (click on 'OS Map' if it doesn't open in that view):

http://www.multimap.com/maps/#map=54.28111,-2.76572|15|4&dp=os&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:54.28427:-2.77105:14|SD499879|SD499879

We spent the day at Leighton Moss, today.

Aside from the 2 Great White Egrets, which we saw albeit quite distant, disappearing in and out of the ditches, we had a good selection of birds.

2 Spot Shanks
800+ Black T Godwits
Redshanks
About 30 Little Egrets
2 Stonechats
all from or near the Morecambe/Allen hides

On the reserve itself there were plenty of the usual ducks and passerines plus

2 Marsh Tits
2 Goldeneye (my first of winter period)
We missed the Bearded Tits on the trays, but we could hear them "pinging" around us and we could also hear at least one Red Deer stag making his presence known

Nice to be able to get out during the week!