Greenshanks..Leighton Moss

I recently visited Leighton Moss to see what waders were present at the Morecambe and Allen pools.This is often a good time to have nice close up views of waders as they stop off to refuel on their long migration journeys south.I was particularly looking forward to seeing greenshanks.This elegant wader often appears in good numbers at Leighton Moss at this time of the year.A check on the internet did in fact confirm good double figure numbers of greenshanks down at the marsh pools.

It was a nice still and warm day and the light was ideal for photography.As usual the Morecambe hide was busy with birders and it was nice to catch up with people I hadn't seen for some time.Eventually some greenshank appeared close to the hide and I was kept busy with the camera.As well as the greenshank and many redshank, little egrets and snipe also performed for the camera.The results from my efforts are shown below.

One interesting observation was to see one of the greenshanks taking what I thought at first were fish.However later at home it was evident that what it was feeding on was squid.The greenshank with a squid in it's beak can be seen in the sixth image.Whether this is a well known item of food or not for waders I don't know but maybe one of my readers can enlighten me.The Eric Morecambe pool is of course not far from the sea and is flooded from time to time by some of Morecambe Bay's high tides.A new drainage system has also been recently installed at the marsh pools and this may also account for squid being present.All in all a very interesting day out at Leighton Moss and nice to catch up with the greenshanks.Thanks for looking in and next time I may have more interesting images from nearer to home.