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| On the mosses, after tree pipit |
A dozen members of the group set off
for the Lakes on a damp morning that soon turned to a thoroughly wet one. But
undeterred, we gathered at Haybridge, which is a privately owned nature
reserve (though membership is open to anyone at £10 per year-single) in a dramatic
setting on the edge of Grizedale Forest and the Furness Fells.
‘Perhaps these woods of oak and birch may teach
you unawares ….truths that escape the eyes that view the world from study
chairs’.
The potential for a great day’s
birding was obvious, the reserve has mixed habitat with easy way marked trails,
however the day we had picked to go was unfortunate. Dreich, atrocisous –just some of the words to
describe the weather endured for the first 3hrs of our visit.
The first birds we noted, from a
commotion heard near to the car park, was a gt spotted woodpecker intent on
mischief around a blackbirds nest, the parents attacking their adversary with
all they could muster.
The morning’s walk took us through
coppice wood with its charcoal burner’s hut, wonderful native deciduous
woodland, much of it coppiced to retain open areas. Song thrush, willow warbler
and the deeper notes of garden warbler accompanied us, and the sheets of
bluebells everywhere more than compensated for the grey skies overhead. In fact
wild flowers were in abundance, throughout the reserve, wild daffodil and
primrose, anemones, stitchwort, ransoms, cuckoo flowers and various fungi to
name a few.
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| Bluebell woodland |
The trail took us out of the woods and
lead us to open landscapes with great views of the Rusland valley and it’s river course. Further on we come to the white
moss tarn; on the water we saw mute swans, tufted duck, mallard, little grebe
and a greylag goose with her goslings.
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| Leaving the woods |
Eventually the rain had the better of
us and we returned to the visitor centre for some lunch. (Hot and cold drink
facilities on site by the way)
The visitor centre /museum has several
feeding stations, very busy stations with siskins, redpolls, goldfinch and chaffinch vying for space on a niger tube, whilst various tits and a nuthatch shared a nut
feeder. Further away a great spotted woodpecker was feasting on peanut feeder
hanging on a tree, not much competition there!
A welcome tick of the day was an
obliging spotted flycatcher seen in the trees behind the centre. Whilst an
engaging pair of swallows were very busy flying in and out of the barn were
they had nested.
The reserve is home to red and roe
deer; here we were not disappointed a large herd of red deer, over 50 individuals
wandered out of the undergrowth into open pasture. Ears pricked, not doubt listening to every
word we uttered (just as well as there were several signs of poacher alert
warnings dotted around the reserve)
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| Red deer herd |
Cheered by this company, and the
eventual lifting of the weather, we headed off for a completely different
habitat. The SSSI sites of Hay bridge Moss and Rusland Moss, a raised lowland
bog, is edged by the intermediate Lagg Fen, a very wet area of willow and
alder, thickly covered in mosses and a rich plant habitat in its own right.
A wooden board walkway leads through the
mosses, this in an area noted for other wildlife, sadly absent due to the
inclement weather, dragon and damselflies, newts, common frogs and toads. Adders,
slowworms and common lizards are also found on the reserve, alas no sunny spot
for basking today.
A word of warning for visitors to the reserve on wet days, please take care
on the wooden bridges and boards, these
can be extremely slippy, sadly discovered by one of our party who ended up with
a sore purple rump and worse, a pair of
broken binos
Nearing the wooden bridge on the trail
our party had its first sighting of another good tick for the day, pied
flycatcher, a fine female flitting about a nearby shrub. Further along the trail
and out in the open mossland, where there was less cover for birds, a tree pipit
was observed perched high in a solitary tree. This area showed obvious signs of
conservation management, clearance of trees to preserve the mosslands.
The path we were on is a circular
route however a little further on we had to turn back as the ground was too sodden to continue, but
not before a few of our party had a brief
view of a red kite swooping down from it’s lofty perch and down
into the tree line. Mute swan and Shelduck grazed the fields beyond and a
pheasant’s harsh call was a regular background cry.
We retraced our steps to the centre;
again a pied flycatcher was espied, this time a splendid male. Redstarts are regular breeders here on the
mosses and were keenly sort after by the group , however only a couple managed
the next sighting of this elusive bird ,
sighted by Terry and Sean a little further down the trial.
On our return to the visitor centre,
we sat on the terrace, telescopes trained on the hillside and tops, hopeful of
a sighting of Red kite, honey buzzard or osprey’s returning from fishing trips
to the Duddon estuary ... Not today...
the mute swans and shelduck from earlier did a flypast and a single goosander
was the unexpected bird.
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| In search of osprey, kite and buzzards |
All in all, despite very unfavourable
conditions, we had an excellent day out, and were very grateful to Terry, who
is a member of the reserve, for guiding us.
If you plan a visit don’t forget to have
a look around the museum/workshop, some interesting bird’s nests, tactile mammal
skins, deer antlers and exhibits on show.
Oh and if you find a sodden blue, silver
flecked woollen scarf in the woodland. It’s mine!(Laura)
Bird List
Siskin, robin, crow, chaffinch, gt
spotted woodpecker, blackbird, mute swan, greylag goose, tufted duck, tree
pipit, lesser redpoll, gt tit, coal tit, spotted flycatcher, swallow, pheasant,
swifts, reed bunting, rook, lesser bb gull, shelduck, mallard, red kite, pied
flycatcher, willow warbler, wren, nuthatch, goldfinch, buzzard and little grebe
Report compiled by Anne and Laura
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