Mike's Natural Musings: Return to Ashes Lane, Day 3

Thursday 31 March 2022

Return to Ashes Lane, Day 3

The sun is a bright, clear cerulean blue as I look out of the van window first thing, bare trees still in stark winter mode against the sky. Frost and snow coat the car while the distant fell tops are dusted white. A blackbird's rich melodious songs echoes across the site as he sings from the very summit of the tree behind the van while a procession of birds visit the bird table.

Later an eerie booming sound carries to our ears over the vast reedbeds of Leighton Moss RSPB reserve: The song of a rare bittern, a boomer. This is the territorial/courtship song of this streaked brown member of the heron family. It is so well camouflaged that it is almost impossible to spot amongst the similarly coloured reed stems in which it hides. What a thrill this is. Our main objective for the day was to find one of the rare garganey ducks that were present on the reserve. This we managed from Lower Hide, although the bird spent most of the time asleep hidden in the edge of the reeds; too distant for decent photography. Still this was a lifer for me so not too many complaints. On our outward walk I had put some seed out to try to attract the resident marsh tits. This strategy was a success; on the way back to the reserve centre I managed a few full frame pin sharp images so I was delighted. We finished our visit by checking out the salt marsh lagoons which were hectic with activity. The cacophony of the black-headed gulls colony was deafening while the large numbers of avocet were occupied either with feeding or mating. There were still plenty of black-tailed godwit, now mostly in rust coloured breeding plumage.

We finished our day in Lancaster with fish and chips at Thomas's from his excellent local chippy.

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