LATE JANUARY

North Cumbria produced some good birds in the second half of January mainly along the coast.

Craig Shaw found a lovely first winter Iceland Gull in the harbour at Maryport on the 17/1/09 which remained until at least the 27/1/09 affording some excellent photo opportunities particularly on the river Ellen near the Wave Centre. A brief seawatch off Maryport on the 18/1/09 also saw 26 Red Throated Divers, a Little Gull and an Artic Skua.


The coast also produced an unseasonal Pomarine Skua chasing Kittiwakes on the 17/1/09 off Bowness-on-Solway. A Great Skua was also seen off Maryport on the 26/1/09 by John Miles.
A walk along Grune Point on the 23/1/09 was well rewarded with 2 unseasonal Little Stints and Short Eared Owl, Merlin, a lovely male Hen Harrier and the wintering Long Tailed Duck with 22 Scaup. Large numbers of both Barnacle Geese and Pinkfeet were also present roosting on the Marsh, as were 110 Whooper Swans which were presumably part of the huge herd of Whooper Swans gathered on Silloth Airfield reaching at least 310 on the 21/1/09.

An adult Med Gull also frequented Flimby Rugby pitch, still present on the 28/1/09 and up to 30 Purple Sandpipers roosted at high tides on Workington Pier. 2 more Med Gulls were found at Siddick Pond, Workington. A Little Egret was reported from Drumburgh Marsh on the 20/1/09.

Away from the coast the drake Smew continued to winter on Tindale Tarn and 8 Bramblings were seen at Forest Head in a poor year locally for the species.

Early January

The start of the New Year 2009

Very few birds reported in North Cumbria in the first two weeks of January, presumably a reflection of the change from cold and frost to windy and wet.
The only Waxwings were 28 reported from Cockermouth on the 8/1/09.
A Great Gey Shrike was found on the 4/1/09 at Chamot hill near Penton right up in the north of the County.
On the Solway there were 2 groups of Twite I saw 11 at Port Carlisle on New Year day with Greenshank also there and 50 Twite were reported at Cardurnock on the 3/1/09. 200 Whooper Swans were still in a big herd at Newton Arlosh also on the 3/1/09.
North Plain pools were deserted as they froze early in the month but the thaw meant duck numbers had risen considerably by the 12/1/09 with 56 Pintail and good numbers of Shoveler, Teal and Widgeon, a Peregrine was also present. While a walk round Grune Point with a very high tide on the same day saw Long Tailed Duck with about 25 Scaup, 10 Grey Plover, Barn Owl and unusually 2 Whooper Swans on the sea.
Inland I was delighted to find a drake Smew on Talkin Tarn on the 4/1/09 though it was always fairly distant, it remained until 10/1/09 when it moved to nearby Tindale Tarn. 2 Scaup were also present on Talkin Tarn on the 7/1/09 but Goosander numbers dropped right off while the hard weather partially froze the tarn but had returned to 25 on the 9/1/09



The low water at the beginning of the month meant a Green Sandpiper was present at Carr Beds on the 1/1/09 and the 7/1/09 but the rising water as everything thawed meant it was not seen subsequently.

Late December

Late December

Hard weather made for a quiet Xmas period in North Cumbria and flu made it even quieter for me, though regular trips to Carr Beds my patch made up for it.

Very few Waxwings remained in the North of the County, with 19 in Brampton on the 22 and 23/12, 30 in Penrith on the 21/12, 2 in Wigton on the 24/12 and 5 in Bowness on Solway on the 27/12 were all that were reported.

A good bird for Cumbria, Red Kite was again reported over Rulehole at the Golden Fleece Pub on the shortest day while a pale Bellied Brent Goose was reported with thousands of Barnacle Geese on Burgh Marsh the same day.

Other notable birds reported were Long Tailed Duck again at Grune Point on the 31/12 with Merlin and a good count of 142 Black Tailed godwits also present. Both male and female Hen Harriers were reported at Campfield RSPB on the 29/12/08 and before the freeze I counted 58 Pintail from the hide there on the 22/12 and on the same day a Greenshank was still in Port Carlisle Harbour

An astonishing number of Whooper Swans were reported from the Wedhole Flow/Lessonhall area with 359 and 202 on Xmas day in 2 groups 3 miles apart and then 420 in one herd on the 27/12/08, these must surely be record counts for Cumbria.

From a personal point of view visiting Carr Beds every day from the 28-31/12 Carr Beds came up trumps with 3 Green Sandpipers present on the 28/12/08 and 1 present every day. Even better were 2 Otters fishing in the creek there on the 19/12 and 21/12 and Stoat carrying prey was an unusual sight on the 29/12/08. A Brambling was an unusual bird there on the 28/12/08. Kingfisher was also seen every day from the 28-31/12/08 and a record count of 14 Little Grebes on the 30/12/08. Whooper Swans were regularly seen in flight with 55 on the 28/12/08 and the injured bird remained present for its 4th year. Goldeneye peaked at 40 on the 28/12/08 and Goosander at 19 on the 31/12.

I havent taken any pics of birds to include this fortnight so I'll have to wish everyone a Happy New Year with a sunset from Bowness Viaduct on the 30/12/08.

Early December

Lots of Waxwings were still present early in the month though fewer were being reported by the middle of the month; a flock in Keswick until at least the 9/12/08 varied from 20-46, while in Penrith numbers reached 35+ on the 12/12/08 and 120 on the 3/12/08, several flocks were present in Carlisle with 95 on Currock road on the 5/12/08 and 29 on Boundary road the same morning.



Longtown also hosted a nice little group along the path to Arthuret ponds with 39 present on the morning of 8/12/08 and Dalston still had up to 30 birds on the 07/12/08 and had had 60 birds earlier in the week. Numerous other small flocks were reported in the North of the County including 16 at Tarraby, 15 near Rockliffe, c12 Cavendish Terrace, Carlisle, 50 over morton, Carlisle and 4 Houghton. I managed to photograph one of the longtown birds with a coloured ring on it which turned out to have been a female ringed in Aberdeen in early November. David Higson also photographed a different colour ringed bird in Dalston, this to turned out to have been ringed in Aberdeen in early november



Not many other birds were reported this fortnight apart from Waxwings, exceptions were a Long Tailed Duck at Grune Point on 3/12/08 and in Silloth Docks on the 14/12/08, presumably the same bird. A Little Gull was also reported from Silloth on the 13/12/08.

A stunning male Hen Harrier hunted fields opposite Newton Arlosh house on the 15/12/08 and a Little Egret was on the saltmarsh at Raby Coates nearby on the same day, while the day before 2 Short Eared Owls hunted over border Marsh. Another male Hen Harrier was seen at Campfield RSPB on the 9/12/08 and 56 Pintail was an excellent count on the pools at the top of North Plain Lonnen on the 14/12/08.

The rarest birds reported in the region this fortnight were Ring Necked Ducks with 2 females reported, the wintering Bassenthwaite Lake bird on the 9/12/08 and another female flying up the river Eden at Grinsdale during a web count on the 14/12/08.

A wintering Bittern was again seen at Siddick Pond at dusk on the 2/12/08, with 2 seen on the 27/11/08, and the Twite flock at Port Carlisle remained steady at c35 on the 3/12/08, with a Greenshank and Little Egret present on the same day.

Another unusual bird for the north of the county was Green Woodpecker with one seen near Lessonhall on the 14/12/08.

26 Twite were at Old Sandsfield on the 8/12/08 with 67 Goldeneye on the river Eden there and on Talkin Tarn on the 9/12/08 40 Goosander was a good count for recent years. A Kingfisher at Talkin Tarn on 12/12/08 was also very unusual for the site.

Late November

Late November

The bird or birds of the latter half of November were without a doubt Waxwings. Good numbers appeared in the North of Cumbria with a count of 210 at Dalston the biggest flock. Flocks were also present at Penrith (100), Keswick (15), Carlisle(75 on West Walls, 90 on Fusehill Street), Warwick Bridge (50) and Wetheral (25). Unusually these flocks often seemed hard to catch up with and only the Dalston school site was anything like reliable though even there the birds could go missing at times.



Other than Waxwings the Ring Tailed Hen Harrier was still roosting at Campfield Marsh and a Short Eared Owl was also present on the 16/11/08, as were 19 black Tailed Godwits. Also at Campfield RSPB a cold looking Little Egret was reported on the 22/11/08.
Whooper Swan numbers continued to build reaching a max of 107 at Beaumont/Rockliffe. The Port Carlisle Twite flock was still present with c50 birds reported on the 22/11/08 and 31 on the 28/11/08.
A female Snow Bunting was also seen on Grune point on the 25/11/08 in almost exactly the same place as one was seen last winter. This years one was too flighty for photos so I've posted a picture of last years.

Early November

Early November

A period of adjustment in North Cumbria as birds located to their wintering quarters. Two returning American ducks were found, a female Ring Necked Duck at the southern end of Bassenthwaite Lake on the 2/11/08 (where one wintered last year) was still present on the 10/11 and a Drake Green winged Teal at Campfield Marsh on the 11/11/08, again one was present at this site last winter.
Evening watches at Campfield Marsh RSPB continued to be rewarded with a ringtail Hen Harrier present most evenings and almost a 100 Whooper Swans roosting. The Hen Harrier showed very well in front of the hide on the 2/11/08, flushing at least 20 Snipe and a pair of Pintail from the juncas grass, and a Merlin was also present. Fieldfares seemed to appear in big numbers from the 2/11/08 with a flock of c600 near Drumbrugh and several smaller flocks around the Inner Solway area.



The Whooper Swan herd at Bromfield south of Abbeytown swelled to an impressive c225 with another c45 nearby, perhaps accounting for the absence of the regular herd in the Rockliffe area.
A wintering Green Sandpiper flew over Demesne Marsh, Rockliffe on the 3/11/08 and the Goldeneye flock there numbered 49 on the river Eden.
On the Solway an unseasonable Ruff was found at Anthorn on the 13/11/08 and a flock of 22 Black Tailed Godwits were on Campfield Marsh scrape.
The Waxwing influx into Britain started to appear in North Cumbria, with 3 birds near Longtown on the 10/11/08, 40 in Penrith on the 14/11/08 and 13+ in Keswick on the same date. Then on the 15/11 several reported on the eastern edge of Carlisle with 14 again in Keswick and 55 at Penrith. Also on the 15/11 the first substantial flock of Brambling was reported with an estimated 100 in a mixed finch flock of 300 south of Walton.

Mid to Late October

Mid to Late October

The bird of the second half of October was Cumbria's second Cattle egret of the year which frequented a partly flooded cattle field just west of Lanercost Priory for the 17th and 18th of October and was then seen flying over the road at Crosby-on-Eden on the 19/10/08.



The Solway continued to produce some decent birds with a Storm Petrel past Bowness on the 20/10/08 and Spotted Redshank at Bowness Railings on the 22/10/08.
Presumably the same Spotted Redshank was in Port Carlisle harbour on 24/10/08 with a Greenshank, single Little Egret and the first Twite of the winter, a flock of 18. The same day a walk round Grune Point saw another Spotted Redshank, a male Merlin and 3 Black Tailed Godwits.
On the 26/10/08 during a period of strong westerly winds a Grey Phalarope was seen in flight and on the sea off Skinburness sea front.
By the 29/10/08 the Twite flock at Bowness had increased to a good count of 75 and an adult Med Gull was present on Kirkbride airfield.
The same day I found a lovely pair of Long Tailed Ducks on Takin Tarn they remained until late afternoon despite the boating and rowing going on and although they stayed in the middle of the Tarn and therefore fairly distant I managed to get a few record shots. Although not that rare in Cumbria these birds never fail to impress me and it is unusual locally to see a drake with a long tail.



The month ended with a nice surprise for Steve Westerberg in Brampton with a flock of 21 Waxwings flying over Tree Road, while on the Solway 93 whooper Swans came in to roost at Campfield Marsh, a Merlin was also seen and a very late Swallow was reported in Bowness village.

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