Yellow Wagtails were once a common breeding species even in Rossendale but they have sadly disappeared from so much of their range like many migrant breeders such as the Tree Pipit, Redstart, Whinchat, Ring Ouzel, Spotted Flycatcher and Pied Flycatcher. Yellow Wagtails now mainly breed in lowland Lancashire and one of the best populations is from Hesketh Out Marsh south to North of Liverpool on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain. Whinchat have disappeared form lowland Lancashire as a breeder and now found in the uplands only. Bewteen Rufford and Tarsclough along Curlew Lane there is a good concentration. You can park at the Martin Mere car park or even on the outskirts of Rufford along Brick Kiln Lane.
As I walked along Curlew Lane I heard Pied Wagtails, Skylark, Corn Buntings and distant Whitethroats. A pair of Oystercatcher with 2 well grown young made me very happy. Not often you see ground nesting birds make it that far. I start to hear the metallic ping which had a citrus twang to it but it was very hard to see the birds in the green vegetation. There was brief song too. Birds would perch on stalks but quiet distant. A couple who had been their for 2 hours were approached within 10 metres. I could hear the birds darting in the air pinging quite regularly and this was accompanied by the lazy jingle of the Corn Bunting. In 2014 I was very lucky to get Yellow Wagtails on the dark soil, a contrast! Not a nature reserve but still a good place to watch birds with Grey Partridges in the fields, Marsh Harriers hunting over the crops, Mediterranean Gulls hawking insects and even Cattle Egrets strutting along the crops. I was delighted to see a pair of Yellow Wagtails carrying food! Not all was bliss. I watched a Crow harass a Lapwing off it's nest, fight for the egg which it carried away only to drop, and it broke! I could see the contents scatter into the air on impact.
I have always treated this as a secondary place in relation to either Martin Mere or Marshside but it deserved a few hours on it's own accord!
The Grey Partridge and Yellow Wagtail on the black soil photos are from previous visits to this spot.
