Leighton Moss Bird Watching reserve is one of the North West’s best year-round bird watching sites.
The RSPB Leighton Moss and Morecambe Bay nature reserve is 4 miles north of Carnforth, just on the Cumbria/Lancashire border.
This RSPB site is close to the beautiful coastline of Morecambe Bay and attracts the most wonderful and varied species of birds such as breeding bitterns, bearded tits and marsh harriers.
Furthermore, the wetland at Leighton Moss is home to the largest reedbed in the North-West.
From the comfort of the hides you can watch otters fish for eels and other fish in the deeper meres.
Secretive bitterns and bearded tits may emerge from the safety of the dense reeds while large gatherings of redshanks, lapwings, godwits and other shore birds gather on the pool edges.
The causeway runs across the site. Its screening often attracts flocks of tits, and in the spring and summer, warblers, especially reed, sedge and willow warblers.
Many visitors come to hear the extraordinary booming call of the bittern and the causeway is the best place to hear it from.
One feature to look out for as you walk down the causeway is the old stone gateposts.
The most noticeable are by the causeway bridge and provide evidence of its former agricultural status as rich arable land.
From 1840 to 1917, the Leighton valley was drained by a complex of dykes and driven pumps.
It became known as the ‘Golden Valley’ because of the abundant crops roots and cereal it produced.
Leighton Moss also offers an ever-changing series of events to suit all ages.
These include guided walks such as Birding for Beginners which offers identification tips to those wishing to expand their birding knowledge.
Leighton Moss is 30 minutes away from Lothlorien Holiday Cottage in Grange-over-Sands.
