With Barbara on a recce for a reserve to visit with RSPB York Local Group. We had a cup of tea in the cafe while we studied a map of the reserve, and decided which trail to follow. As they are working on the profile of Meadow Lake we decided to walk around Number 1 Pit Lake, Ribbleton and Nook Pools.
After leaving the Visitor Village, (above photo) we headed for the Lookout hide.
There is a sand martin nest bank to the left and a tern raft towards the centre of the lake, which hopefully in spring and summer will be used by lots of birds. We added Moorhen, Coot. Mallard, Mute swan, Gadwall,
Great crested grebe and Tufted duck to our day list.
This is the view from the screen of the bird feeding station. Here we saw lots of Blue and Great tits as well as Chaffinches, Blackbirds, Goldfinches, Pheasant, Dunnock, Reed bunting and Song thrush.
The path is also used by cyclists so we had to keep an eye out for them. we did a slight detour and walked to the viewpoint overlooking the River Ribble.
The only thing we saw was a fisherman! Back on the main track we came to an area where there was a bench and a fallen tree.
People had put some bird food on the log which was attracting Coal tit and Nuthatch.
This area of the reserve will be full of bluebells come spring.
We carried on along the track and then turned left towards the centre. This part of the reserve is closest to the M6, and the roar of noise from the traffic grew louder.
We had good views of a Stonechat
Our next stop was at the bird hide from where we could look over Number one pit lake and the island.
A lot of work had been done to improve this area for waders and we added Canada geese and Shoveler to our list. Just before we got to the junction in the path, a Buzzard flew into the trees near the motorway.
our last stop was the bird hide closest to the Lookout hide, where we started our walk. A slightly different view of the island and from where we saw at least 4 Grey herons and several Snipe.
We then returned to the Visitor Village and on the way added Cetti's Warbler to our list and spoke to a lady in the centre, who gave us lots of useful information.
A pleasant day and i look forward to our group visit next year.