KILLINGTON LAKE
Break up your motorway trip with some birding
Killington Lake was created to store water to keep the Lancaster Canal operating, and is ideal for birds as well as boating. The surrounding area can also be good for birds and wildlife.
WHERE TO WATCH
1
This is an area you can scan from a service station heading south only from the M6. The advantage is that you are up high, looking down on the lake, with islands to your left which can hold mixed gulls in summer along with breeding geese, ducks and corvids. Several birds come for food in the actual service station, so look out for Black-headed Gulls, Rooks,
Jackdaws and Pied Wagtails.
2
Turn off the M6 at junction 37 taking the first right towards the lake, checking the surrounds for birds. Raptors are likely with Buzzard, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel seen here.
3
Turn right again for the south side of the lake with a good mixture of birds possible. Diving ducks are possible, with Tufted, Goldeneye, Goosander, and sometimes Pochard, found here, with records of both Slavonian and Red-necked Grebes, and both Great Crested and Little Grebe regular. Mixed terns pass through, with the best being Caspian Tern. Birds of prey recorded here include Hobby, Osprey and three species of harriers. Both Crane and Great White Egret have flown over, while waders like Ruff, Wood Sandpiper and Black-tailed Godwit have dropped in.
4
Follow on along the minor road passing Old Park Wood where a Great Grey Shrike was found here in clear fell in the winter of 2021/22. Other birds likely here include Crossbills if the cones are on the trees, Goldcrest, Wren, Song Thrush and occasional Long-eared Owl.
5
Follow on to the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust Reserve of Burns Beck Moss where a circular walk of half a mile is worth doing to see a mixture of birds like Grasshopper, Sedge and Willow Warbler, Whinchat, Cuckoo, Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting. Listen out for Curlew and Snipe in summer.