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:
Well it has stopped raining for a few days and so today I resumed my birdwatching activities back on the Somerset Levels.
Firstly I visited RSPB Ham Wall where marsh harriers, common snipe and stonechats were the star attractions. Then, I moved on to Catcott where the battle between a great white egret and a pike was more spectacular than the multi million dollar scenes in the film “Napoleon” which I had seen the day before. Well almost!
Marsh harrierStonechatStonechatCommon snipeCommon snipeWigeonGreat white egret and pikeThe battle continues
We spent the day on the Somerset Levels, a coastal plain and wetland area running south from the Mendip Hills to the Blackdown Hills in the county of Somerset, south of where we live in Bristol.
There are more storms forecast for tomorrow but today it was incredibly still and misty throughout the day (not particularly conducive to bird photography).
The main feature of the day were two large flocks of egrets (with Cattle, Little and Great White Egrets), one on the Long Drove near to Wells and the other next to Westhay National Nature Reserve.
Stonechat
In between we visited a small reserve at RSPB Greylake where a group of photographers showed us their lovely photos of kingfishers and peregrines which we had just missed. However, I was quite happy to get a chance to photograph stonechats.
StonechatCattle egretLittle egretLittle egretGreat white egretGadwall in the mist at WesthayShoveler
With the advantage of the clocks going back we were able to make an early start for a Sunday morning walk from New Passage to Severn Beach and back.
Pied wagtailPied wagtail
The tide was too high to see much on our walk (4 pied wagtails, a few wigeon and some black-headed gulls) but fortunately we had a good coffee stop and by the time we returned to New Passage the tide was in its optimum height for us to see lots of waders and wildfowl feeding on the shore line.
The Severn Estuary at the end of our walk.Lots of waders could be seen at this timeGreylag geese and redshankWigeonLittle egret and redshankCurlew centre stageRedshankCanada geese and redshankLittle egret, black-headed gulls and redshankOystercatcherDunlin in flightDunlin back on the shore line
We were really surprised how few birds there were on the pools at Slimbridge this morning. There were rangers working on fixing fences nearby which may have disturbed some of them and, with the weather still very mild, others may not yet have arrived.
Some white fronted geese had arrived last week but they were too far away for me to photograph.
Five snipe and three redshank saved the day for me.
Five snipeRedshankRedshank and snipeRedshankShelduckRedshankLapwingGreylag geeseGreylag geese and an intruder (Barnacle goose)
We are spending this week in Norfolk celebrating a friend’s 70th birthday. As he and his wife fostered our interest in bird watching on a holiday here a decade ago it seems appropriate that we have spent some time this week bird watching.
En route on Saturday we stopped off at RSPB Titchwell Marsh near King’s Lynn. We didn’t have much time to spend here but seeing a few waders, various geese and the big wide skies certainly got us in the mood.
On Sunday we spent the morning at Cley-Next-The-Sea. The first hide was very busy, mainly with birders with big telescopes wanting to get sight of a long-billed dowitcher which has been resident here for a while. It’s not quite my thing trying to get distant shots of rarities and so I was quite happy to get photos of birds a little more accessible to me.
There were lots of birders looking for the long-billed dowitcherA solitary whooper swanAvocet – a great success story in the UKDunlin and ringed ploverAn affectionate pair of shovelersMute swans
As we were leaving the reserve we had wonderful views of a kestrel.
KestrelKestrel
On Monday morning we had a walk around Blakeney, where we are staying.
Blakeney quay
I loved seeing the flocks of geese flying over.
Egyptian geeseGreylag geese
The sounds of redshank and curlew flying over the reeds were pretty special too. We also had fleeting glimpses of bearded tit.
Cley-Next-The-Sea in the distance
Towards the end of our walk we had another close encounter with a kestrel.
KestrelCurlews on the estuary
On Tuesday we had a walk through the woods and along the beach at Holkham. Little grebes on a pool and red kites overhead were the main attraction.
Little grebeRed kiteRed kiteThere were several types of dragonfly along our walkHorses on the beach at HolkhamThe beach at HolkhamWe ventured briefly into the park at Holkham HallThe iconic granary at Wells-Next-The-Sea on our way back
On Wednesday we had a break from birding and took a steam train from Holt to Sheringham
Not total abstention – a turnstone on the front at Sheringham
It was a very misty and murky start to my visit to Ham Wall today.
The cobwebs were quite a display early onA pair of pheasants were the first birds I saw
It didn’t brighten up much throughout the day but my day was brightened by a great white egret and several marsh harriers that put on a magnificent display for me.
I spent most part of the day in the Stratford hide at Chew Valley Lake and managed to narrowly miss 5 spoonbills and an osprey: the spoonbills minutes before I arrived and the osprey when I went for my picnic lunch and a quick visit to Herriots Bridge. I’m clearly not dedicated enough!
The lake was teeming with coots (c 1900 according to someone who counts). I could pick out small numbers of shoveler and pintails, a juvenile garganey and a kingfisher hovering over the reeds. Most of my effort was spent trying to photograph the larger birds including a female marsh harrier, a juvenile great crested grebe, 3 great white egrets, 3 grey herons and lots of cormorants.
For some reason or another I found the photography difficult and today I had no excuse with the light.
You will have to believe me but these are some of the thousands of coots on the lakeFemale marsh harrierGreat white egretGreat white egretJuvenile great crested grebeGrey heronThere were three grey herons squabbling for territory at Herriots BridgeThis grey heron was very wary of the other twoCormorantJuvenile garganey in the water in the middle of the photo
All these birds are very distracting when you are trying to have a walk!
In truth, we needed to set off earlier as by 11 am it was too hot for a walk and we were back at the hotel having a coffee.
SpoonbillSpoonbillsCommon greenshankKentish ploverCommon redshank and common greenshankBar-tailed godwitLittle stintWhimbrelRuddy turnstoneGrey ploverYellow legged gullDunlinSpoonbills in flight and white stork ignoring them
From the balcony of our hotel room I could see that there were spoonbills on the lagoon. So, with a little gentle persuasion, we reorganised the pattern of our morning walk and took in the lagoon. It was too hot out there to stay too long, but it was long enough to see some lovely birds.
Spoonbills from the balcony of our hotelSpoonbills from the edge of the lagoonSpoonbill with lots of smaller waders aroundGrey ploverWhimbrelBar-tailed godwitSuch a lovely morning beside the lagoon
There were lots of ruddy turnstone, common ringed plover and sanderlings but my hand wasn’t steady enough in the heat.
Slender-billed gulls and ternsCommon redshankSandwich tern
A coffee looking across the port and then back to the pool!
It’s been very hot today and so I didn’t take a camera on our morning walk along the beach. In the late afternoon we had another walk along the edge of the tidal lagoon near the hotel and saw more birds than I want to edit photographs for!
Common greenshankLittle stintRuddy turnstoneDunlinA sense of how many birds there areWhite storksSanderlingWhimbrelLittle egretGrey ploverCommon ringed ploverAre there really any birds here?
That was enough to keep me happy and we headed back for a beer.
This morning we had a trip across the river by ferry from Isla Cristina to Isla Canela but decided it was just holiday properties there and without any great interest.
On the way back to the hotel we spent an hour birdwatching on the tidal lagoon in front of the hotel. At first it seemed like there were more people searching for shellfish than birds but then we were pleasantly surprised as we had close up views of whimbrel, sanderlings, grey plover, common redshank, common ringed plover, Kentish plover, turnstone, white storks and bar-tailed godwit.
The tide was very lowThe locals have a sort of pump to push out the shellfishSanderlingGrey plover and common redshankCommon ringed ploverKentish ploverWhimbrelSanderlingWhite storkWhite storkWhite storkWhite storkBar-tailed godwit
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