Print pageSeasonal highlights
Each season brings a different experience at our nature reserves. In spring, the air is filled with birdsong as they compete to establish territories and attract a mate. In summer, look out for young birds making their first venture into the outside world. Autumn brings large movements of migrating birds - some heading south to a warmer climate, others seeking refuge in the UK from the cold Arctic winter. In winter, look out for large flocks of birds gathering to feed, or flying at dusk to form large roosts to keep warm.
Spring
Many of the winter birds are still here before leaving to breed. In April and May, look for waders passing through on their way to their breeding grounds in the North.
Summer
After leaving their nests, many young birds arrive to feed along the shore. Linnets nest in the bushes and skylarks can be heard singing their hearts out in the air. Meadow pipits display to each other by 'parachuting' from the sky. Swallows catch insects on the wing. In August the first waders return from their breeding grounds to spend the winter here, often still in their colourful summer plumage.
Autumn
More and more birds are arriving to spend the winter to feed in the vast mud flats of Morecambe Bay. Morecambe Bay is the most important estuary in the UK for oystercatchers and numbers tend to peak in September and October. Starlings congregate to feed before flying to inland roost sites.
Winter
Watch the spectacle of thousands of wading birds coming in to roost an hour before high tide. Look out to sea for great crested grebes, divers and wigeons and the occasional eider duck. You might be lucky to catch a glimpse of a peregrine or merlin hunting along the coastline.