Trip reports
BARBONDALE AND LEIGHTON MOSS
Saturday, 9 June 2007
Our first sighting was of a stonechat perched (pictured) above a dry-stone wall. Along by the beck, which was in full spate because of recent heavy rain, we found a pair of pretty grey wagtails and a dipper bobbing on a rock. We wandered up onto the side of the valley into mixed woodland containing oak, ash, beech on the beckside and more thinly spread stunted trees on the moorland side, giving us a greater variety of birds. Three willow warblers and redstarts, with a pair of nuthatches and a treecreeper were spotted by sharp-eyed Czesia & Doreen.
Harry drew our attention to the small trees on the moorland side of the path, which were favoured by tree pipits. They treated us to a song flight, rising high into the air and singing a very slow 'chew, chew, chew' as they made their characteristic 'parachute' descent. Meadow pipits were also about. There were small parties of mistle thrush, distinguished by their raised heads and upright stance, on the open grassy areas among the bracken. They gave out dry rasping chatter when they took up. The mellow song of a garden warbler came from deep cover. A common whitethroat rested momentarily on the fence. Great and blue tits foraged and called to each other and blackbirds sang. Harry identified a high flying raven by its distinctive wedge-shaped tail. A green woodpecker called continuously from a low bush on the hillside, making it easy to locate and observe. Hovering kestrel was spotted afar off. A heron flew low overhead downriver. Willow warblers sang their descending arpeggios.
The surrounding hills were strangely quiet, just five corvids noted above the skyline. We heard great spotted woodpeckers calling and we were surprised to find a juvenile floundering in the damp grass at the foot of a tree. At last, after some effort, it managed to start climbing the tree again. The path led us into a stand of mature pines, a home to many goldcrests. We could hear their thin, high 'zee-zee-zee' calls and at last managed to spot three of them. Resting on a stone bridge for a while, we watched the rushing peaty beck (it looked like brown ale with a head on it) before returning along the valley where robins and dunnock sang.
We enjoyed lunch by the beck spotting wagtails, two grey and one pied. Swallows flew about us.
At Leighton we ran into a Big Twitch, a white tailed plover -vanellus leucurus- which breeds in Iran & Iraq, had been sighted on the reserve, but no-one was sure exactly where it was. However as we wandered around looking for it, we had great views of three spoonbills in the air at once from the Grizedale Hide. Also a beautiful male marsh harrier rose from and quartered the reeds.
As we walked the paths reed warblers sang from the reedbed. By this time the clouds had cleared and the reserve was bathed in warm sunlight, it was very pleasant. Then we heard that the plover had been sighted at the junction of the road to Carnforth. The bird was a long way off and the image a bit distorted by the heat haze, but I managed to see it. I daresay we can look forward an account & photographs of this visiting rarity appearing in the bird magazines.