I had been thinking of visiting Leighton Moss reserve at silverdale recently, so I decided to make the effort and see if I could add some pictures of the Bearded Tits that frequent there.I knew that they would be visiting the grit trays, that are put out for them, but this can be a hit and miss affair!
Luckily for mesas I walked down the causeway,I could see a group of 6 or 7 folk waiting by the viewing area!As I neared ,I could hear the "pinging" call of the Tits as they moved through the reeds.
A pair of birds were feeding on the grit, but I wanted some natural images of them in the reeds.A male bird suddenly came into view and afforded some great views in the mid morning light!
Most of the Beardies are sporting different coloured rings to aid with the monitoring scheme that goes on there!
He hung around,spreadeagled across the reed stems, weighing up the grit tray.
Unusually this female wasn't rung, she may have dropped in on migration, on her journey south!
The grit aids with digestion of seeds that they feed up on, and of course makes them a lot easier to view.Usually you are lucy to see them amongst the vast roadbeds,so the trays serve 2 purposes.
In one of the hides, I watched a cormorant hunting the shallow bays.This particular bird was rewarded with a jack pike, for its efforts!
It didn't hang around with it though and with one flick of its head, consumed the whole fish quite easily!There was a total of 4 cormorants on the mere fishing, so its no wonder fishery owners despise them.They would soon clear out a well stocked pond in days!
A dog Otter had been reported earlier, taking a coot, but i wasn't present when it was about ,so missed the spectacle.On my next visit,I will try to be there for first light and hopefully be in position, should the Otter show again.So thanks for taking the time out to view my blog and I will catch up with you soon!
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