Coffee & cake birding at Middleton Lakes

After way too many fruitless visits to the pits, Mrs D and I headed over to RSPB Middleton Lakes for a bit of coffee & cakes birding. Before we tucked into the delights of the coffee shop we did a large circle of the reserve. The water level has increased with the weekend rain so the only waders on show were a Dunlin, 3 Little Ringed Plovers, Lapwing & a Black-tailed Godwit. The Marsh Harrier that had been around for a few days flushed everything at one stage and I’d hoped it might flush another wader out but no such luck.  Other sighting included many Little Egrets (now confirmed breeders), four Wigeon and good influx of Gadwell & Teal. Nice walk, top coffee & cake but lacked a real goodie.