Piethorne Valley, Lancashire

We decided to take Laddie somewhere new for a walk today and went to Piethorne Valley, a group of farmland reservoirs that have a few accessible paths around them. I took my bins, of course, and I'm glad I did as it turned out to be a great birding spot, especially to get to grips with various LBJs!

By far the best area seemed to be the South side of Piethorne Reservoir but there were things to see just about everywhere except, funnily enough, the so called "Nature Reserve" section.

So what did I see... Swallow, House Martin (nesting in the houses near the car park), Curlew (at least a couple flying around and calling), Canada Geese, Chiffchaff (recognised by it's call rather than "chiff-chaff" song... I was quite proud!), Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit (IDed by it's call and flight pattern... I'm getting the hang of this!), Wheatear (quite a few of these in various plumage) and finally a new tick for me... Stonechat complete with it's "2 stones knocked together" call.

This place is only 20 minutes down the road and was useless for water birds despite having nearly 10 reservoirs around, but it's superb for migrant LGJs.