Early September - thats a bit better

Finally the rain stopped and the sun came out and with it a bit of wind which brought me at least 3 cracking juveniles Sabines Gulls past Workington on the 4/9/09, 2 were reported the day before and on the 5/9/09 a juvenile lingered near the harbour for over an hour. A Black Throated Diver and a Black Guillimot were also reported past on the 3/9 with the odd Manx Shearwater on several days as well. The resident Med Gull remained from last month and a good count of 7 were present on the 5/9/09 while up to 40 Kittiwakes roosted on the pier.

On the 7/9 the first Little Stint of the season was found at Anthorn and a Hobby was there a couple of days later. A Curlew Sandpiper was also found here on the 13/9/09 and nearby on the 10/9 an immature Marsh Harrier flew through Campfield Marsh while an Osprey was seen at Anthorn near the masts.

The best was still to come for me though and on a quick trip out afterwork on the 12/9/09 I first found a Black Tern at Longtown Pools

and then half an hour later a Red Necked Grebe at Rockliffe on the river Eden. Both juveniles they both remained present until at least the 15/9/09.


The receeding water levels also meant a few waders were again around and Carr Beds had a Green Sandpiper on several dates and a Greenshank on the 14/9/09 with Snipe numbers increasing up to c20. A single Goldeneye reappeared again on the 12/9 and at least 2 kingfishers were still about.

The feel of Autumn in the air was definately enhanced by the first of the Pinkfeet Geese going over with several Skeins reported on the 10/9/09.

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.

Early August - The start of Autumn

Waders formed the focus of attention for this fortnight with the juvenile Little Ringed Plover being seen again on the 2/8/09 at Carr Beds and up to 6 Green Sandpipers, 10 Snipe, 6 Common Sandpipers and 2 Goldeneye being seen most days. A Black tailed Godwit was seen on the evening of the 5/8, a fox was also watched for a while on the evening of the 8/8 and a single Otter showed very well at dusk on two occasions. Demesne Marsh produced a nice group of 4 Greenshank on the 14/8/09 with 3 Greenshank, 3 Whimbrel and a Little Egret at Port Carlisle the day before. The best Greenshank count was 7 at anthorn on the 14/8 with a single Black Tailed godwit also present.

The Great Grey shrike remained at Alston Moor until at least the 3/8 but then seemed to go missing. The debate as to its identity seem to have settled on Great Grey Shrike but with the possibility it could be of the race Leucopes. This picture shows the large white double wing patches and the beak was also seen to be a pale horn colour.

News from Thakka Flash near Penrith was a Little Egret briefly on the 12/8 with 2 Green Sandpiper on the 13/8 and one the following evening.

A walk around Grune Point on the 2/8 revealed little other than a couple of flyover Sandwich Terns and at least 4 very young Wheatears on the shingle suggesting local breeding at Grune itself.

Ospreys began to return through Cumbria with one heading south over Wetheral on the 8/8 while a female Marsh Harrier, still a rare bird in Cumbria, was reported hunting in Geltsdale the day before. Another osprey was at Whitrigg on the 12/8/09. Osprey news from Bassenthwaite Lake was that 3 young had fledged but one had gone missing almost immediately.

Late July

The juvenile Little Ringed plover was still at Carr Beds on the 16/7/09 but heavy rain the following day covered all the mud and shingle so it was not seen subsequently.

Also at Carr Beds a single Greenshank was present on the 18/7 and up to 5 Green Sandpipers were reported with 1-3 being seen most days and Snipe started to return with up to 6 present.

At Port Carlisle on the 19/7 Little Egret, Greenshank and Little Gull were all in the harbour area.

4 Storm Petrels were reported at Workington on the 23/7 and 5 on the 30/7 but numbers seem much lower this summer than usual. Also at Workington there was a Med gull present in the harbour area on these two dates, and at Skinburness 2 were reported on the beach on the 24/7/09.

Perhaps the most interesting bird of the month was the reported Steppe Grey shrike at Alston on the last day of the month but closer examination proved it to be the Great Grey shrike seen there in April which has presumably summered and become a worn plumage odd looking individual, it certainly had an odd pale bill and extensive white in the wings.

On the Butterfly front at least 8 Purple Hairsteaks showed well at Finlandrigg woods but were difficult to photograph with only some blurry digiscoped efforts managed.

Waders on the move Early July

This fortnight saw a fair few more waders back in North Cumbria, starting with a Green Sandpiper on the 2/7/09 at Carr Beds this rose to 2 on the 3/7 and then 3 on the 5/7 and the 9/7 with one remaining until at least the 14/7/09. Two Greenshank were also present on the 3/7/09 and at Demesne Marsh just down river on the 8/7/09. Bird of the fortnight for me was a Little Ringed Plover at Carr Beds late evening of the 14/7 accompanied by a Ringed plover on the same piece of shingle allowing nice comparisons. Even more excitement on the 15/7/09 when the adult LRP was joined by a juvenile and I managed to get a record shot of it.



Common Sandpipers peaked at around 22 on the 5/7/09 at Carr Beds but there were probably more downstream and 3 Snipe were regularly feeding in the open at Carr Beds.

A drake Scaup also remained at Carr Beds from the start of the month and Goosander numbers reached a minimum of 45.

Away from the water Quail were reported calling in several places including 2 at Aikbank near Wigton from the end of June at least, 2 more were near Longburgh on the 12/7 and another 2 near Cliburn on the 9/7 with another at Ousby on the 8/7/09.

A reeling Grasshopper Warbler was a nice sound near Mosedale on the 8/7/09 on a day when at least 15 Keeled Skimmer Dragonflies and a single bog Orchid were good finds nearby.

At Miltonrigg I was shown a Wood Warbler nest which was empty but had apparently fledged 6 young, it was beautifully concealed on the ground against a fallen pine bough.

At Finlandrigg at least 30 Crossbills were seen on the heath on the 1/7/09 with 9 at Jockey Shield a couple of days later.

Late June

The birds picked up a bit in the second half of June. Two Wood Sandpipers were found, one with a Green Sandpiper at Thacka Flash next to the motorway at Penrith and the second I found at Carr Beds at dusk both on the 24/6. Two Green Sandpiper were also present intermittently at Carr Beds between the 23/6 and 30/6.

Two Hobbies were also seen, one at Sandale near Bolton low houses on the 27/6 and the second on the 29/6 at finlandrigg NNR.

A Little Tern also paid a brief visit to tindale Tarn on the 29/6/09 an unusual bird inland for Cumbria.

At Miltonrigg the Pied Flycatcher brood fledged and 2 Wood Warblers were singing on the 19/6/09.

The main excitement of the week was that a new baby bird has appeared in the Franklin household which may slow down my birding a bit. He's already got a bit of seawatchers intense stare about him.

Early June

Traditionally this is always a quite time for birds locally and this year took that to the extreme. In the first fortnight of June there were only 2 bird reports to Birdguides, a Hobby in Upper Geltsdale and a calling Quail near Cockermouth, thats quiet. The birding Cumbria Yahoo group was the same with a flyover Red Kite in Geltsdale and a Wood Warbler at Miltonrigg.

The return of the Wood Warbler to Miltonrigg was good news but last year there were 6 singing males in the same area. Better news was a lovely pair of Pied Flycatchers taking food into a nest at Miltonrigg, while 2 Greater Spotted Woodpecker nests also held vocal young.


At Carr Beds other than the occasional Kingfisher the only thing of note were 2 large Goosander broods, one of 19.