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Sometimes, just sometimes, wildlife it seems can be predicted! At the end of the last blog post I included some wildlife highlights to look out for in the coming week. And for once the wildlife obliged! Firstly a stoat was spotted bounding down the path to lower hide, scurrying around with their...

Well with April fast approaching it's end our wildlife is just getting started! This has to be my favourite time of year, with the sound of bird song, the croak of frogs and the rustling in the reeds all adding to the wonder of spring. One of the undoubted highlights of this season is the emergence...

We are very excited that the avocet count on the saltmarsh pools has risen to 54! Given the success we had last season with 48 young ones fledged from 19 pairs of adults, we look set for similar this year. Pop down to the Eric Morecambe and Allen hides to get close up views of this iconic emblem of the...

How many of us check down in front of a hide when you enter to see whats lurking below? Well we all should, down in the reeds right under the window of Tim Jackson was a beautiful red deer calf! This little spotty beauty entertained visitors throughout the day, but had evaded many too, nestled down...

Hello! Well the weekend has flown by so I thought I would update the sightings from the last three days. Our red deer are still out in force and there have been up to four calves around now, which is great to see. Stags have put in an appearance too, one in particular with a very impressive head of...

Well after some more unpredictable weather a brief break in the weather yesterday resulted in our wildlife becoming even more active. Star of the show was the appearance of a rather dapper kingfisher to the right of Tim Jackson hide, this beautiful bird showed well on and off for a good few hours...

It is hard to believe that June is nearly over, and with July fast approaching our red deer on the reserve should be producing more and more offspring. The one calf that has been seen is performing well, leaping and bounding around full of the joys of err summer I suppose you could call it. The...

Can't I write this blog outside? It's a beautiful day here at Leighton Moss! The sun's out and the air feels warm. Walking along the Griesdale trail I hear warblers on fine form and see the insect life is coming out in force. Willow trees are releasing their tiny seeds on fluffy parachutes...

With the weather continuing to shine down on us this weekend, we've been treated to sightings of some returning spring visitors. Up to 5 swallows have been seen around the reedbed - does that make a summer? These fantastic summer visitors spend the winter in Africa before flying all the way to the...

This time of year sees lots of migrants both leaving and arriving at Leighton Moss so why not come and join us for a Wednesday walkabout and find out about the amazing travels of our birds at this time of year. On yesterday's walk we spotted a couple of common terns divebombing into the pool in...

Today's gorgeous weather has more than made up for yesterday's miserable showing and brought some good sightings today too. The black tern that was here yesterday is still around; it seems to be going backwards and forwards between the Eric Morecambe pools and the Lower and Public hides. The...

My plan to catch the otters early this morning completely backfired - having got up early and charged down to the Lower hide, the otters were seen there about 20 minutes after I had left. We had one dog otter with a kink in its tail at 8.15 am and a group of four at 8.45 am. At 10 am an osprey was...

Summer definitely felt like it was coming to an end today at Leighton. However, we still have at least one marsh harrier around; it was seen in flight by a visitor today. We were visited by an osprey again, with good sightings from the Public and the Lower hides, and a kestrel was also seen at the...

We had a fantastic final Deer Watch this evening. Eight stags with magnificent antlers were out at the Griesdale hide, including two locking antlers practising for the rut later in the autumn, along with a hind and a calf that had almost lost its spots. At the Tim Jackson hide, we had almost given up...

Over the weekend, depsite the rain, we had some good sightings at Leighton. We had three kingfishers at the Eric Morecambe pools, an osprey fishing at Island Mere and then seen later at the Griesdale hide, a sparrowhawk around at the Public and Lilian's hide and a garganey at the Lilian's hide...

I've been away from the reserve for a few days so have a few highlights to start with. Otters are being seen regularly at the moment - sightings were reported for Saturday at the Lilian's hide at 8.45 pm, three at the Lower hide on Sunday at 10am and again this morning at the Lilian's...

Let's hope not, as there was another reported sighting of a bittern today flying from the Public hide! And at the Lower hide late this morning a visitor caught a sight of not one but two ospreys. The marsh harriers were out enjoying the warm weather, with three juveniles seen at the Lilian's...

For anyone that didn't manage to catch the avocet chicks on the saltmarsh which have now fledged, here are a couple of photos: Last night I went on a walk in some very glorious evening sunshine to the Tim Jackson and the Griesdale hides. We saw about 10 red deer hinds and two calves,...

Some of us had an unusual start to the day with our Moth Breakfast event. We had a chance to look at what had been caught overnight in the sixteen traps set round the reserve and nearby at Myers Allotments by a dedicated team of helpers from the Lancashire Moth Group before sitting down to a welcome...

The sightings started early this morning! Between 7.15 and 7.30 am two spotted redshanks and a hobby were noted at the Eric Morecambe pools. At 7.35 am a visitor watched two female marsh harriers displaying from the layby on Storrs Lane and caught a sight of a sparrowhawk. A male marsh harrier was seen...

The marsh harriers were displaying well today, including making a food pass and the female was seen nest gathering. Two unringed bearded tits (a female and a juvenile) were seen at the Lower hide this morning and an adult and juvenile great crested grebe were also about. A visitor managed to get some...

Today we had two spotted redshanks, six little egrets and one greenshank on the Eric Morecambe pools. We had a hobby reported at the Lower hide at 7.15 this morning, and two ospreys were seen over the Causeway at 8.40 am and again at 10 am on the tree opposite the Public hide catching fish. Slightly...

I haven't posted for a few days so here are some highlights for the missing few days: an otter was seen from the Lower hide on both Friday 24 and Saturday 25 June, several pink footed geese have been seen both at the Griesdale hide and on the Eric Morecambe pools, and an osprey was sighted on Firday...

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful sunshine that we have had at Leighton Moss today. There are some good sightings to report. Early this morning (8.30 am) there was a sighting of an Osprey from the Lower hide. A male and female marsh harrier were displaying well in front of the Lilian's hide...

... and you would certainly have needed one today! The beautiful weather has meant a very good day for sightings here at Leighton Moss. An osprey has been seen around the reserve several times today. It was first seen at 7.20 am sitting in a tree on the island at Island Mere for 20 minutes before...