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.