Enjoy high class high season birding.
This really is the best time to be out in the countryside, as it will be bursting with new life and looking at its freshest, while the birdsong will be going bananas!
Leaving Eastwood at 9am by people carrier, we drive north to arrive at Pennington Flash Country Park, in time for an afternoon walk with a picnic lunch. At this exciting time we may see passage waders such as Green and Common Sandpipers, Greenshank, Curlew and Dunlin, as well as Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers and Common Tern. Continuing north, we have three nights at The Mill at Conder Green, a nineteenth century stone built water mill in a quiet rural setting alongside the Lancaster Canal. From here we have three full days to explore the nearby Forest of Bowland, Leighton Moss and Pendle Hill. It is but a short drive from The Mill to the picturesque Forest of Bowland, which we shall explore on foot, enjoying another picnic lunch in a beautiful and tranquil setting. Previous walks in this fabulous area have produced many upland specialities including Peregrine, Merlin, Meadow Pipit, Whinchat, the increasingly rare Ring Ouzel and even Short-eared Owl and Crossbill. On another day we visit the fabulous RSPB Leighton Moss reserve, famous for booming Bitterns, Marsh Harriers and Bearded Tits, while other breeders here include Avocet and Water Rail, and at this special time there are good chances of smart rusty red Black-tailed Godwits and maybe even Little Gull and Black Tern. On Friday we return home via Pendle Hill and ascend by a fairly easy route. This moorland island is England’s most reliable springtime ‘stop off’ for trips of Dotterel en route north from North Africa. Normally one would need to climb to the summits of the Cairngorms to see these unusual plovers in their lovely breeding plumage, but with luck we should enjoy superb close views of these delightfully tame upland waders, in addition to breeding Golden Plover, Red Grouse, Wheatear and Twite. In the woods down below, swathed with Bluebells, we can look out for Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Pied Flycatcher, Tree Pipit, Wood Warbler and the handsome Redstart, while the fast flowing streams should produce Grey Wagtail and Dipper, and so by ‘home time’ we should have a really good bird list!
Cost £320
What the price includes:
Return transport by people carrier from the Nottingham area, three nights half board en-suite accommodation, bird checklist and the services of your guide.
Deposit £100
Single supplement: £90
Dotterel