Late August Wet and wetter

Well birding in Cumbria has been a bit of a challenge the last fortnight as all it does is pour down. On a rare dry day a trip to Workington on the 17/8/09 was well rewarded with 4 Storm Petrels and a Leachs Petrel, the latter standing out as being bigger and with a prominent upper wing flash and a greyer tone, its behaviour was different as well with the Stormies lingering while the Leachs flew straight through and on southwards. In the harbour the first winter Med gull with a bad leg was still present and allowed good photos. A Med Gull and a little Gull were also reported from Campfield Marsh on the 22/8/09.



Other than that very little was reported, 2 Ospreys lingered over Demesne Marsh for a couple of hours with at least one seen to fly up river past Carr Beds on the 19/8/09. While an immature Marsh Harrier was reported on the same day from Tindale Tarn and an Osprey was there on the 27/8 briefly.

With Carr beds virtually underwater only a single Greenshank and a single Green Sandpiper were seen on a couple of occasions and by the end of the month a Little Grebe had appeared, a sign winter is on its way.

The other highpoint of the fortnight for me was a quick day away in Northumberland to see a SemiPalmated Sandpiper at Cresswell as part of a nice day in the sun with Roseate terns, Spotted Redshank, Artic skuas etc as support cast. Made a change from the Rain.