Leighton Moss

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da_nige

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Neil
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Evening folks,

I am heading out for the day on Tuesday and given the weather up north is to be poor I'm thinking of heading south.

Is Leighton Moss worth a visit for photos or is everything too far away like the RSPB reserves up here?

Thanks

Neil
 
You should get good shots of Marsh Harrier, as for other special birds Bittern and Beardies, luck will play a part. Its a canny reserve and well worth a day out.
 
Length or luck is a must at Leighton Moss.
 
fracster said:
Length or luck is a must at Leighton Moss.
Click to expand...

:plus1: Yes, on my last visit I could see Marsh Harriers and an Osprey in the distance but they all were too far away to photograph, even with a 500mm + x1.4
 
There are five large hides on the main part of the reserve at Leightom moss, the "public hide" and the "lower hide" seemed to me to be the best on the day I went . Cant remember the names of the hide nearest the visitor centre but it was very active and noisy with mostly Gulls..or it seemed that way. A deer did walk through the birds at one point, there are several deer nearby, Ive been three times and saw deer on two occasions.
There are two more hides about a mile away on the estuary where there were Avocets but as Richard said too far away to photograph even with a 600 f4 x 1.4 converter and a DX body about 1200mm !
Well worth a visit , great for birders who just like to see the birds through bins at whatever distance to say they have seen one but photographers need to have patience and sometimes wait for the birds to get close enough.
My advice is go early have a look at all the hides, keep asking others folks what
they have seen at the hides they have been to, and be prepared to walk a few kilometres back and forwards . Its about 3km from one end of the main reserve to the other and another kilometre to the hides on the estuary.
 
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Thanks for all the help and advice folks. We decided to go north instead despite the weather. Had a reasonably good day.

I think I'll leave Leighton Moss until the winter/migration season and see what blows in

Thanks

Neil
 
Hi Neil,
Where did you end up going?
Im only a 2yr rookie at wildlife photography and still looking for places to go so any locations would be swiftly written in my note book.
Im told Mull is great as are many of the islands up there but that would be a few days trip for next year, its the places reachable in a day trip Im looking for about four /five hours drive north from Carlisle setting off middle of the night.
Alan.
 
re Leighton Moss
Autumn is the best time for bearded tits when they come down to the paths and the grit trays, stocking up for the winter. also for bitterns as when it get cold and frosty they are ore likely to come out of the cover of the reedbeds.

From now on is a good time for deer. If you like coots The pool outside Lilian's Hide is coot city. Later on you will, if you're lucky, get the big flocks of starlings coming in to roost, but again that can be hit or miss. They run evening walks to see the starling flocks and some nights it can be a 'no show'.

Get ready for the winter influx of water fowl.

Plus walking along Morecambe prom in winter you will see thousands of waders, curlew, redshank, greenshank, knot, dunlin, oystercatcher, eider duck etc etc.
 
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Thanks graywolf , thats the sort of info rookies like me need , Im still learning not only locations but more importantly "time of year" when to see what.
 
Here's a shot I took from Lilian's Hide a couple of years ago.
bittern.jpg
 
If it was a long walk, probably along a very straight track (the causeway) it would have been either the public hide, which is on the causeway or Lower Hide which is at the end of the causeway and turn left.

The other two hides are in the opposite direction, Tim Jackson's and Grisedale.
 
They are very very nice shots of the bittern I must get there more often to improve my chances of seeing one at close quarters.

I saw the Bittern last year from the public hide but it was across the water in the reed bed about 200mtrs away at a guess. Too far for a photograph but a friend who is a birder (but dislikes driving/traveling any distances!) told me that he hadn't seen a bittern in his life so although at that distance it meant little to me 'cos I didnt get a pic he felt I had been a lucky rookie......I have invited him along as a passenger to Leighton moss next time I go.
 
I`ve only seen the elusive little begger once. It flew past the lower hide just as I got there, before I had got my camera out. Landed in the reeds and was never seen again.............:LOL:
 
I saw it from the public hide for a split second a couple of years ago but never since. In March I got some very good views of the Marsh Harriers from the lower hide and from on the causeway.

Andy
 
The best place for the marshies is actually not on the reserve. Even so, you have to be lucky for a fairly close shot.
 
fracster said:
The best place for the marshies is actually not on the reserve. Even so, you have to be lucky for a fairly close shot.
Click to expand...

Pray tell young sir, where is this place???? Is it the gate on the road opposite the Lower Hide?
Oh and I have some pics of one of the females on the ground from the Lower Hide that I shall put up later. Not brilliant but a bit different(y)

Andy
 
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