Mid to Late May

Late May on the Solway turned out to be a real Skua fest with totals reaching 213 Pomarine skua, 19 Long Tailed including a flock of 9, 45 Artics and 13 Great Skuas passed by on strong SW winds, numbers for specific days are detailed in the table here.

Other good birds were also seen with my reward for getting the tide time wrong and starting skua watching very early on the 18/5 being a Spoonbill flying from the Scotch side over to Campfield Marsh where it remained to dusk.

Another aspect of the seawatching on the 18/5/09 was that the strong wind produced 35+ Manx Shearwaters, including 22 together, an uncommon bird in the Inner Solway.


Away from the sea virtually the only thing of interest reported was a Hobby with Swifts over Carlisle on the 28/5/09.

It was good to see that the Marsh Fritillary butterflies were flying in good numbers starting on the 22/5 with 3 the warm last week of May saw good numbers, this was also true of White Faced Darters at their North Cumbrian site

One of the high point for me recently has being able to watch 3 Otters on the River Eden near Rockliffe on warm evenings, attempts at photography can be seen one of which shows the Otters attempts to retain its catch of a huge eel which has wrapped itself around the Otters body.

Early May

The Skua passage made a return to form after a poor year in 2008 with plenty of passage. I thought the details would make more sense in a table, see below. After the 9/5 the wind turned East and things dried up so no birds passing.


Other than Skuas I found a summer plumage Great Northern diver, always a scarce bird on the solway, on the seawatch on the 8/5/09 and a Little Gull on the 5/5, then 2 little gulls on the 9/5.

With the change in the wind attention turned to my Longtown patch which turned up a lovely drake Garganey on the 13/5/09 with 3 Little Gulls present on the 11/5 and 5 Little Gulls on the 15/5/09.

Yellow Wagtails continued to be seen, with at least 2 pairs present and the nesting Dipper was seen with food in its beak. Several White Wagtails were also to be found most visits, up to 10 Whimbrel were present and a count of 25 Goosander on the 13/5/ was good.



A little Egret was at Campfield Marsh RSPB on the 6/5 and both Redstart and Pied Flycatcher in Miltonrigg woods on the 10/5.

Late April

Late April is the start of the skua passage in Cumbria and after a disappointing year last year it was good to see some passage. The first Pomarine Skuas went past on the 22/4/09 with 2 pale phase adults past Bowness Viaduct on a day when I didnt expect anything as the wind was a light easterly, but as birds had been reported from Newbie in Dumfries and Galloway on the previous 2 days with similar winds I thought it was worth a try. Three Pomarines skuas were then seen past the Viaduct on the 24/4 before the passage ground to a halt again with winds staying easterly, hopefully May will be better. The only other skua reported was a Great Skua past the Viaduct on the 19/4.

Other than skuas it was a time of migrants arriving, with the first Swifts early on the 18/4/09, House Martins also early on the 22/4, Lesser Whitethroat also early on the 19/4 at Campfield RSPB and Grasshopper Warbler reeling on the same date also at Campfield while Pied Flycatchers were back in Lower Gelt woods on the 20/4/09.

Some Species were notable by their abscence with very few Sedge warbler having arrived by the end of the Month.

Of the Waders Whimbrel showed a good passage with a count of 25 at Longtown on the Esk on the 26/4/09 while at Carr Beds passage green Sandpipers were seen on the 16/4 and 19/4 with a Greenshank present on the 23/4. An adult Little Gull was also present on the Esk at Longtown on the 25/4 and 26/4, possibly the bird that flew past the Viaduct on the 22/4/09.

Also on the 22/4/09 4 ruff, 12 Black Tailed godwit and a good count of 40 White Wagtails were reported from Wedholme Flow.

Passage Ospreys continued to move through with one fishing the Eden at Carlisle just east of the M6 bridge on the 30/4/09.

Early April - Proper Spring

The trickle of migrants in late March turned into a proper Spring in early April. Willow Warbler arrived fairly early on the 5/4/09 with one singing in Bowness Nature Reserve and then were well established within a few days, Swallows started to appear in greater numbers and from the 7/4/09 small groups were reported from various locations in North Cumbria. The first Common Sandpipers were reported back on the upper Eden on the 9/4/09 and were back on the Eden at Carr Beds on the 10/4/09, then at longtown on the Esk two days later when an early Yellow Wagtail was also reported.

The first Redstarts were reported back at Talkin Tarn on the 12/4/09 with 2 singing in Sluice Wood and on the 14/4/09 a male Pied flycatcher was back at Jockey shield with Tree Pipits reported first on the 10/4/09.

At Campfield Marsh a drake Garganey appeared on the 9/4/09, another relatively early date, it was then joined that evening by a second drake and a female. These ducks were still present on the 13/4/09 but on the 14/4 only 1 drake was evident. A walk up to the hide at Campfield on the 10/4 also produced 28 Twite, 2 White Wagtails and 34 Black Tailed Godwits as well as the 3 Garganey. A lovely fox appeared at one point from the wood behind the pools and attempted to stalk the Garganey but they were quickly onto it and kept it in sight at all times. A Whimbrel also flew over the hide on the 12/4/09.

Wintering birds were still present in early April but started to fade away towards the middle of the month with the last reported date for the iceland Gull being the 7/4/09 at Old Sandsfield. there were still 60 Whooper Swans present at Beaumont on the 1/4/09 but by the 8/4 the herd was down to 15 and by the 14/4 only the regular injured bird was present. likewise Goldeneye on the Eden at Rockliffe had dwindled to only a few first winter birds by the 14/4/09. The Smew at Tindale Tarn was last reported on the 4/4/09 when it was displaying and seemed active.

The Ospreys appeared back on the nest area at Bass Lake in late March and during the first couple of weeks of April several migrants were seen travelling north with singles at Dalston on the 7/4/09, at Upper Gelt on the 4/4/09 and 13/4/09.

A good bird for North cumbria Great grey Shrike was first reported on the 1/4/09 at Alston Moor then independently found by Darren Robson on the 5/4/09 at the Alston Moor Golf club car park where it lingered until at least the 14/4/09.

The period ended nicely for me with a lovely Black Throated Diver from Bowness Viaduct on the 14/4/09 which floated in then treated me to a nice fly past as it flew out to sea again.

No bird photos this fortnight so hopefully a lovely female Tawny Mining Bee and a scarce flower Yellow Star of Bethlehem will make a nice change.

Springs arrived Late March in N Cumbria

Spring arrived properly this fortnight with some lovely weather and the first Sand Martins at Longtown Ponds on the 15/3/09. Chiffchaffs arrived on the 17/3/09 with one at Wetheral and then several reports on the 18/3/09, including one on Etterby scaur. The first Wheatears were in at Campfield wader scrape with 2 males present on the 19/3/09 and the same day the first Ring Ousel was reported at Geltsdale. Swallows were slower to arrive with just the first few passing through, the earliest reported was one on the Caldew at Cummersdale on the 18/03/09.
The first migrant Blackcap was a singing bird at Watchtree Nature Reserve on the 31/3/09.

A fair number of wintering birds remained with the drake Smew still present on Tindale Tarn until at least the 29/3/09 while 2 lovely male Brambling were still at Forest Head on the same day. The Iceland Gull was still present on Backenridge in Carlisle though it seems to now be commuting to Old Sandsfield where I found it on the 15/3/09 and it was seen again on the 26/3/09. A Jack Snipe was the only unusual bird at Carr beds seen on the 21/3/09 while the 2 Long Tailed Duck still remained with c20 Scaup at Grune point until the 31/3 at least.

A small flock of 16 Waxwings reappeared in Carlisle off Dalston Road on the 25/3/09, possibly the Wetheral birds from earlier in the month but equally likely winter visitors returning northwards.




A Green Sandpiper was found at Longtown on the 25/3/09 which could have been an early passage bird but was most likely wintering and the Greenshank was still wintering at port Carlisle on the 29/3/09.

A Green Winged Teal reported on the 25/3/09 at Campfield RSPB was potentially the rarest bird of the fortnight and it was still present in the following few days, with the odd Black Tailed Godwit also seen. A Little Egret was present on Burgh Marsh on the 26 and 27/3/09.

The first Osprey was reported back on the 25/3/09 at Bass Lake where a second bird quickly joined it.

The first few butterflies began to appear, all having hibernated. Painted Lady was reported at Dalston by the river Caldew and Peacock and Tortoishell were reported from several locations.

The first half of March didnt bring any migrants through into Cumbria, it was more a case of wintering birds lingering.

At Grune the 2 little Stints and the 2 Long Tailed Ducks as well as the snow bunting were all still present to mid month at least, while on the marsh east of Grune Peregrine and large numbers of Geese including a Leucistic Barnacle Goose were still present. A R edThroated Diver was also very close in.



In Carlisle the 1st winter Iceland Gull remained in the St annes area though it could go missing at times, and on the 15/3/09 I found a 1st winter Iceland Gull at Old Sandsfield on the Eden. This looked very similar to the Carlisle bird and was almost certainly the same bird on a wander around, the 2 sites are about 4 miles apart, still it was nice to find.


In Wetheral a group of 20 Waxwings appeared on the 6/3/09 and several were stil present on the 11/03/09.

Whooper Swans were still in evidence as well with a big count of 320 from Angerton. I managed to read 2 rings here as well and both birds were confirmed as having been ringed at Caerlaverock. The Rockliffe/Beaumont herd was still present as well numbering a max of 82, while up to 4 Kingfishers were seen together at Carr Beds and 2 Jack Snipe were reported from there.
Hopefully in 2 weeks time I will be able to report lots of migrants flooding in.

The second half of February

A walk around Grune point got the period off to a good start with the Snow Bunting still present, as were the 2 wintering Little Stints, the 2 Long Tailed Ducks, a distant Short Eared Owl, a Raven and a Greenshank. The Snow Bunting seems to have moved on though as it has not been seen this fortnight.

The next day saw a nice suprise just before work with 5 Waxwings in a tree at my road end in Carlisle, they were then reported from Annetwell St in Carlisle city centre and 2 others were seen in Lowry Hill, Carlisle.

A Little Egret was again seen on Easton Marsh on the 26/2 and on the 22/2 Darren Robson found a Ross's goose/Pinkfeet hybrid amongst large numbers of Geese at Easton, this bird had been present in Norfolk and Lancashire earlier this year.

Away from the coast 2 drake Smew were reported from Tindale Tarn in the north-east of the County although when I visited on the 23/2 only 1 was present. Very few other ducks were present on the 23/2 only a drake Pochard and a single goosander

Carr Beds continued to get the odd good bird with green Sandpiper regularly present and a Jack Snipe flushed on the 23/2. Up to 60 Whooper Swans were still around and the injured bird present for 4 years is still hanging on, up to 40 goldeneye have also been on the river Eden.

A Glaucous Gull was seen at Sandsfield in the gull roost at high tide on the 25/02 and then an Iceland Gull (initially reported as a Glaucous Gull) was found nearby in St Annes, Carlisle on the 27/2 where it remained for a few days at least. Unusually this was the 3rd Iceland Gull for North Cumbria in the last month