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Lancashire's
variety of estuaries, coastal dunes, wetlands, farmland, woodlands
and moorland make it one of the richest ornithological regions in
Britain at all times of the year. More than 360 different bird species
have been seen in the 'county', out of a British total of 572.
Breeding
Birds
More
than 150 species have bred in the Trust's area in the past 100 years,
about 140 of them annually.
They
include several national rarities, including Black-necked Grebe
in Greater Manchester, Bittern at Leighton Moss and perhaps on the
Wigan Flashes, Black-tailed Godwit and Ruff on the Ribble Marshes
and Hen Harrier on the moors of the Forest of Bowland. A pair of
Spoonbills nested on the Ribble Marshes in 1999, the first to do
so in Britain since the 17th century.
A
lack of cliffs limits the variety of breeding seabirds but large
numbers of gulls and terns nest on the coast and inland. Tarnbrook
Fell holds the UK's largest inland colony of Lesser Black-backed
Gulls and the Ribble Marshes one of the largest coastal colonies
of Black-headed Gulls. Large Common Tern colonies are found at Seaforth
and Banks Marsh and other sites with important numbers of breeding
gulls include Leighton Moss and Belmont and Stocks Reservoirs.
A
few species have become extinct in Lancashire over the past century,
most recently Nightjar and Turtle Dove, and concern is mounting
over a handful of others, including Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Yellow
Wagtail, Wood Warbler, Willow Tit and Twite. Rather more species,
however, have colonised in recent years, including Bearded Tit and
Marsh Harrier at Leighton Moss, Avocet at several sites and Kittiwake
in the Liverpool Docks. Others have greatly increased in numbers,
notably Buzzard, Peregrine and Nuthatch.
As
in the rest of the country, numbers of many farmland birds like
Skylark have fallen dramatically in the last quarter century but
Lancashire continues to hold very healthy populations of Lapwing
and Corn Bunting. Nationally important populations of upland species
such as Red Grouse, Redshank and Curlew also still thrive.
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Lapwing*
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Winter
Lancashire's
mild maritime climate attracts large numbers of Arctic and northern
European-breeding birds during the winter months, mostly to the
coastal estuaries and lowland farmland. The county holds more than
1% of the European population of 24 species, most notably Whooper
Swan and Pink-footed Goose on saltmarshes and arable land, Oystercatcher,
Bar-tailed Godwit and Knot on inter-tidal flats, and Wigeon, Pintail
and Teal on estuarine marshes.
Huge
flocks of waders and wildfowl may be encountered anywhere on the
coastline from Liverpool to Morecambe Bay but the largest concentrations
occur in the Mersey Estuary, the Formby-Southport beaches, the Ribble
and north Fylde saltmarshes, the Wyre and Lune Estuaries and around
Morecambe - and inland at Martin Mere.
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Whooper
Swan* |
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Migration
As
waterfowl begin to move north in early spring they are replaced
by birds that have spent the winter in Africa. Many of these end
up breeding in northern Britain but others are heading further north,
especially to Iceland, stopping in Lancashire for just a few days
to 'refuel'. Many species are involved but Lancashire is particularly
important for just a few.
Amongst
the earliest of these, from late March, are White Wagtails and Greenland
Wheatears, for which the Lancashire coast provides a crucial stopover
site.
In
mid-April up to 1000 Little Gulls arrive on the lagoons at Seaforth/Crosby
on their way to nest in Finland - by far the largest spring assembly
anywhere in Britain. At the end of April into early May, Icelandic-breeding
Whimbrels feed on the farmland of the central plain, roosting mainly
at Barnacre Reservoir and Brockholes Quarry - with 2000 or so birds
involved Lancashire is by far the most important area for this species
in Britain.
Many
seabirds too are caught up in the rush northwards, most notably
several thousand Arctic Terns which move through Morecambe Bay from
late April and are mostly seen from Heysham.
No
one species stands out amongst the hundreds of thousands of autumn
migrants, amongst which a handful of vagrant rarities turns up each
year, but the right weather conditions can produce spectacular daytime
movements of songbirds from northern Britain, Iceland, Scandinavia
and Russia, such as Redwings, Fieldfares, Meadow Pipits and Chaffinches.
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Meadow
Pipit* |
