A party of 9 set off on a lovely sunny Winter's morning along a narrow wooded track along the railway line towards Twin Lakes. Along this track, we saw many smaller bird species such as Blue and Great Tits, Robin and Chaffinch flitting amongst the branches. Reaching one of the Twin Lakes, we had some good views of Great Crested Grebes eager to make the most of the fish in the fishing lake, as well as a group of Canada Geese.
Moving on from the lake we came to a group of fields near the sewage works, flooded by the recent rains and had a variety of Gulls making the most of this. Herring, Lesser Black-Backed and Black-Headed were all present and a large flock of presumed finches were in the treetops in the distance. Our smallest bird species the Goldcrest was also briefly seen here, refusing to stay still for us whilst foraging for insects in the Conifer trees.
Carrying on, we continued along tracks through farmland and fields along Moss Lane, seeing Hares and a group of at least 15 Moorhen near Moss House Farm. A large pond here provided an ideal home for them, but it was their apparent lekking-like behaviour along the margins of the pond the grabbed our attention.
We stopped outside the farm for lunch, and were treated to a flock of Tree Sparrows feeding nearby.
After lunch we headed down Sumner's Lane and Carr Lane through more farmland, getting a nice view of a female Yellowhammer. 
We eventually made our way back to the bridge over the River Yarrow, before retracing our steps back to the car. 

​Canada Goose 7 T
Mallard 5+ T
Grey Partridge 2
Little Egret 1
Great Crested Grebe 2 T
Common Buzzard 1
Kestrel 1
Moorhen 15+
Oystercatcher 2
Black Headed Gull 100+
Lesser Black Backed Gull 5+
Herring Gull 10+
Wood Pigeon 10+
Collared Dove 5+
Carrion Crow 20+
Jackdaw 20+
Raven 2
Magpie 5+
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 2
Great Tit 2
Coal Tit h
Long Tailed Tit 1
Wren h
Starling 5+
Robin 2
Blackbird 2+
Song Thrush 1
Fieldfare 30+
Dunnock 1
House Sparrow 5+
Tree Sparrow 10+ (Moss Farm)
Pied Wagtail 2
Greenfinch (male)
Goldfinch h
Chaffinch h
Yellow Hammer (female) 1?
T = Twin Lakes
h=heard only

Seven of us gathered at Leighton Moss on a lovely sunny day. We started off in the Lillian hide and enjoyed close up views of snipe – a couple of them seemed to swim from one patch of reeds to another – whether they were swimming or just wading in deep water is debatable. Some of us had a view of the ring-necked duck among the tufted, and also 2 female goldeneye, as well as several pochard. As we walked on to the Tim Jackson hide we had close views of a marsh tit. From the hide we enjoyed sightings of more wildfowl – pintail, teal, wigeon – as well as more snipe and a lone lapwing on a ridge in the middle of the water. We had lunch here enjoying the sunshine. After lunch we carried on to the Grizedale hide and those of us who got there first snatched a quick glimpse of a great white egret before it disappeared behind the reeds. From here we also watched marsh harriers ranging over the water. We then decided to walk back and go to the Causeway hide. We heard the boom of bitterns, but sadly no sightings. We did have cracking views of 2 goldcrest displaying very close to the path at eye level and were able to watch for a couple of minutes as they flitted about. There wasn’t much different to be seen from the hide but we enjoyed close views of cormorants hanging out their wings and a distant view of a great crested grebe. The group then split up – some ventured to the Lower hide, despite the flooded path, and others tried to drive to the Eric Morecambe hide, but the track here was also flooded. So we called it a day, though 2 of the group stayed and saw a good starling murmuration.


Species 34: Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Marsh Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Tufted Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Pochard, Goldeneye, Common Snipe, Greylag goose, Mute Swan, Black-headed Gull, Shoveler, Gadwall, Coot, Mallard, Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Lapwing, Grey Heron, Great White Egret, Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Goldcrest, Cormorant, Great Black-Back, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Starling.