We are having a pre-Christmas holiday in the Lake District in Cumbria in the north-west of England. Today we visited the RSPB reserve of Leighton Moss which, although not within the Lake District, is only 30 minutes from where we are staying in Cartmel in the southern part of the Lakes.
The amazing Priory Church in Cartmel (in the rain)The village of Cartmel is a “foodie’s” delight with 2 Michelin starred restaurants, an hotel , 4 pubs , a micro brewery, a wine bar and several coffee shops. The village shop, here, is famous for being the home of “sticky toffee pudding”.
The last few days all of our visits have been in the rain.
Coniston (in the rain)
We knew the weather here could be pretty hostile, especially at this time of the year, but today we were really lucky; although it started dull, it stayed dry and we even had moments of sunshine.
Leighton Moss from the 9 metre high Skytower. Northern pintail were in the minority amongst the waterfowl
Leighton Moss is home to the largest reed bed in north-west England. This sweeping expanse provides shelter to a spectacular range of wildlife including otters, bearded tits, marsh harriers, egrets and red deer.
Our only egret of the day – a great white egretThe light varied so much.
This photo is taken from the same hide as the photo above – just a different zoomCormorants were the stars on this pool. either drying their wings or …… in flightGadwall in the sunThe most exciting moment of the day (if not the best photo) a flock of waxwing. – definitely an irruption year! This flock of 30 or more stayed only long enough for me to get 3 frames, just enough for me to persuade the warden that is what we had seen.These fieldfare were the prettiest of the birds on viewWe were quite excited to see marsh tits, as the are not very common near our homeA thrush enjoying the berries tooAlways love seeing nuthatchesThis was taken at about 1.30 pm.… but it brightened a little to be able to see these snipe amongst the teal… and to get reasonably good views of marsh harriers.Well, it will soon be Christmas and so I couldn’t not feature a robin
Slideshow of photos from our trip to RSPB Leighton Moss:
Thanks Martin, sounds like an interesting village. I’ve nest heard of it before so amazing that you found it, and well placed for Leighton Moss too. There’s some great photos considering the challenging light conditions you had too.
Have a good Christmas and New Year and look forward to seeing you soon. Good luck with the cataract operation on 28th.
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 
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