13th January 2013, Leighton Moss

Despite the cold and chilly weather we had decided on a drive over to Leighton Moss on Sunday, breakfast taken and car packed we were on the road before nine and arrived over there just after ten o'clock.

This place never disappoints and straight away a lovely blackbird posed for the camera..

This was soon followed by a robin and a blue tit as we made our way down to the nearest hides..

The icy temperatures had a lovely effect on the reed heads..

Unfortunately most of the waters by these hides were frozen so sightings from them were scarce but we did spot some snipe..

Staff and visitors scatter bird food on some of the fallen tree trunks to encourage birds into view, we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time as several lovely birds visited for a meal.

A treecreeper..

A male chaffinch..

And a nuthatch..

When we did find a hide were birds were visible on the open water we spotted a canada goose and some shovellers..

Time for a break for lunch for us and then we took the longer walk down to the lower hide..as we reached the hide sleet began to fall, not much at first but it became quite heavy for a while. As luck would have it a marsh harrier appeared when the weather was close to its worst..

A robin appeared in a tree close to the hide, it was almost demanding its photograph was taken!

Conditions worsened and the marsh harrier appeared again, obviously it needs to feed..

A lovely teal sailed into view..

Not the greatest day but still worthwhile, sightings had been good but now it was getting really cold and being sat motionless in a hide is not the best way of keeping warm! Walking briskly back to the centre and the car park I paused for another robin shot..

A quick check on the feeders area showed not much apart from a rascal grey squirrel!

A trouble free drive home thankfully, despite the weather the roads were clear:-)