British Garden Birds - RSPB Leighton Moss

RSPB Leighton Moss is the largest reed bed in north-west England, it is near Morecambe Bay.

The reserve is mostly freshwater pools and marsh with extensive reed beds and surrounded by deciduous woodland of mainly willow and alder.

Bittern are present all year round, both breeding and wintering here, though that doesn't mean you will necessarily seen one of these cryptically camouflaged elusive birds.

Late autumn is the only time I've visited, but the variety of habitats and species is such that you should see at least 60 species. Species that you are more likely to see include Bearded Tits, Marsh Harrier and Water Rail, plus a good selection of woodland birds, wildfowl and waders.

A short distance away is RSPB Morecambe Bay reserve with two convenient hides that overlook pools and out to Morecambe Bay where you can see usually see Scoter and Eider bobbing up and down among the waves.

What You Might See
Bar-tailed Godwit Bearded Tit Bittern Blackbird Black-headed Gull Black-tailed Godwit Blue Tit Bullfinch Buzzard Canada Goose Carrion Crow Chaffinch Chiffchaff Coal Tit Collared Dove Common Gull Coot Cormorant Curlew Dunlin Dunnock Ferruginous Duck Fieldfare Gadwall Goldcrest Goldeneye Goldfinch Great Black-backed Gull Great Crested Grebe Great Spotted Woodpecker	Great Tit Great White Egret Green Woodpecker Greenfinch Greenshank Grey Heron Greylag Goose Herring Gull House Sparrow Jackdaw Jay Kestrel Kingfisher Lapwing Little Egret Little Grebe Long-tailed Tit Magpie Mallard Marsh Tit Mistle Thrush Moorhen Mute Swan Nuthatch Peregrine Pheasant Pied Wagtail Pintail Pochard Raven	Red-breasted Merganser Redpoll Redshank Redwing Reed Bunting Robin Rook Ross's Goose Ruddy Duck Shelduck Short-eared Owl Shoveler Siskin Skylark Snipe Song Thrush Sparrowhawk Spotted Redshank Starling Stonechat Teal Treecreeper Tufted Duck Water Rail Wigeon Willow Tit Wood Pigeon Wren