Five of us gathered on a very grey and cold morning. We first visited the feeders and were delighted to see a marsh tit amongst the more expected birds. We then went to the Lillian hide. The water was frozen apart from a small opening at one side which was filled with a small mixed flock of teal, shoveler, pintail and gadwall. We got a good sighting of a female marsh harrier as it danced above the reed bed.
We then took the path round to the Causeway hide – as we walked along we had a few redwing up in the trees and a female bullfinch perched in a bush. As we carried on along the boardwalk we kept our eyes peeled for water rail, but only saw moorhens. We also stopped briefly at the grit trays for possible glimpses of bearded tits, but nothing doing. As it started to rain we hurried to the hide. The view from the hide was disappointing – no birds, apart from a group of mute swans to one side and some black-headed gulls in the far distance. As it was now raining heavily we stayed in the hide admiring the view, chatting and occasionally checking to see nothing had flown in.
When the rain eased we retraced our steps, then went the other way to the Tim Jackson hide. On the way we got a treecreeper and all along the paths we were accompanied by very confiding robins. The story at the hide was the same again – no birds – so we carried on to the Grizedale hide with low expectations. We did do abit better here, - as we walked in we immediately had good views of a great white egret, which stayed around quite a while as we sat eating our lunch. A flock of lapwing flew over and landed in the sloped field beyond the reserve. We also had the female marsh harrier again and at one point buzzard, sparrowhawk and harrier all in the sky together, with the sparrowhawk mobbbing the buzzard. Just as we were about to leave a male marsh harrier also
appeared giving us great views.
We went back to the visitor centre and enquired whether the road to the
estuary hides was OK – a staff member told us he’d just been down there and it was fine. So we drove down and walked to the Allen hide. What the staff member could have told us was that there were no birds! None at all in the area in front of the hide and only a couple more great white egrets in the marsh area beyond the fence, and a great black-back gull. So we decided to call it a day at that point. In terms of volume of birds we agreed we had never seen it so quiet, but we enjoyed seeing the smaller woodland birds and the raptors.
PS. One of the group arrived an hour and a half before the rest of us and saw both bearded tit and water rail – the early bird and all that .......grrr
We then took the path round to the Causeway hide – as we walked along we had a few redwing up in the trees and a female bullfinch perched in a bush. As we carried on along the boardwalk we kept our eyes peeled for water rail, but only saw moorhens. We also stopped briefly at the grit trays for possible glimpses of bearded tits, but nothing doing. As it started to rain we hurried to the hide. The view from the hide was disappointing – no birds, apart from a group of mute swans to one side and some black-headed gulls in the far distance. As it was now raining heavily we stayed in the hide admiring the view, chatting and occasionally checking to see nothing had flown in.
When the rain eased we retraced our steps, then went the other way to the Tim Jackson hide. On the way we got a treecreeper and all along the paths we were accompanied by very confiding robins. The story at the hide was the same again – no birds – so we carried on to the Grizedale hide with low expectations. We did do abit better here, - as we walked in we immediately had good views of a great white egret, which stayed around quite a while as we sat eating our lunch. A flock of lapwing flew over and landed in the sloped field beyond the reserve. We also had the female marsh harrier again and at one point buzzard, sparrowhawk and harrier all in the sky together, with the sparrowhawk mobbbing the buzzard. Just as we were about to leave a male marsh harrier also
appeared giving us great views.
We went back to the visitor centre and enquired whether the road to the
estuary hides was OK – a staff member told us he’d just been down there and it was fine. So we drove down and walked to the Allen hide. What the staff member could have told us was that there were no birds! None at all in the area in front of the hide and only a couple more great white egrets in the marsh area beyond the fence, and a great black-back gull. So we decided to call it a day at that point. In terms of volume of birds we agreed we had never seen it so quiet, but we enjoyed seeing the smaller woodland birds and the raptors.
PS. One of the group arrived an hour and a half before the rest of us and saw both bearded tit and water rail – the early bird and all that .......grrr