Early November

The month started off quietly but there was a quality bird waiting to be found, on the 13/11/09 a Long billed dowitcher was reported in Port Carlisle harbour. Now sometimes these reports simply fade away to nothing and very little information was forthcoming so I didnt get too excited but the bird was relocated on the morning of the 14/11 and was still present on the 15/11. It showed very well but the poor light meant the photos were stricly record shots, aged as a 1st winter bird it was, I think, the 5th for Cumbria.

Also present in the harbour was an adult Spotted Redshank and at least 40 Snipe.

Most of the records for this fortnight were from the Solway area with up to 2 male Hen Harriers showing intermittently from North Plain hide with a Merlin present there on the 8/11/09. A walk along Grune Point on the 2/11/09 produced 2 late Greenshank, 2 Peregrine and at least 400 Pintail while a stroll out to the end of Bowness Viaduct on the 8/11 found a juvenile Ruff feeding with Redshank on the waters edge.

Whoopers Swan herds in the area continued to swell with a massive 600+ reported from the Newton Arlosh area and 210 from the Beaumont/Rockliffe herd which included c10% juveniles.

Carr beds was as usual under a flood but a walk down Demesne Marsh on the 13/11 produced a Little Egret, 13 Twite, 2 Ravens and 29 Whooper Swans.

Inland a few Brambling started to reappear at their favourite haunt of Talkin Tarn with c30 on the 10/11 and 6 on the 13/11, there were also 12 goosanders on the former date and 14 on the latter.

Cumbrian October

A trip to Cornwall for nearly a fortnight in October meant I didn't do my early October roundup so its the whole of October in one go.

A late piece of news for last month was of a Lapland Bunting reported from Silloth docks on the 29/9.

This month started well with a Leachs Petrel south off Workington on the 3/10, while a Med Gull was also noted with 2 present on the 5/10 and some commuting to nearby Siddick Pond going on. Also at Siddick Pond a Green Winged Teal was found on the 7/10 and was still present until at least the 23/10.

Still on the coast a Ruddy Shelduck was seen in the channel between Anthorn and Cardurnock on the 7/10, though as usual with this species it is always possible it was an escape.

Bird of the month in North Cumbria was probably the Yellow Browed Warber found in a private garden in Waverton nr Wigton on the 15/10 though it only stayed half an hour or so. Another contender for bird of the month was a juvenile Honey Buzzard that drifted south over Calbeck on the 18/10.

Back on the coast a Little Stint was found at Grune Point on the 21/10 and a Spotted Redshank was seen on the rising tide at Port Carlisle on the on the 29/10 with a Merlin over and on the same day a big Twite flock of 170 was found in the Anthorn area in the area of the masts.

Another good bird was a Black Redstart found at Linksfield farm near Cockermouth on the 26/10 which may still be in the area but has been elusive.

With being in Cornwall I personally missed all of these birds and didnt see a huge amount in Cornwall except several firecrests, 3 Yellow Browed Warbers, a Red Throated Pipit and some Choughs, though we did managed to see a rare Bee, the newly colonising Colletes Hederae and the weather was lovely.

My only records from locally were after I got back later in the month, my one good day was the 28/10 when on Demesne Marsh I saw a flyover White Fronted Goose, c12000 Barnacle Geese including a white bird, 2 Ravens and a Kingfisher and later at Carr Beds a Jack Snipe and good numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings.

Fortunately I did get back in time from Cornwall to be home to go and see the stunning Eastern Crowned Warbler in South Shields on the 23/10 and managed to sneak back to Tyneside on the 29/10 to take some photos of a lovely Sabines Gull at the Fish Quay.




Heres a photo of one of the Yellow Browed Warblers from Cornwall, taken in the beautiful Nanquidno Valley.

Late September

Both of the good birds from last week lingered on a short while with the black Tern departing from Longtown on the 16/9/09 and the Red Necked Grebe present until the 19/9 at Rockliffe.



Other highlights were a Little Egret which flew down river then high back up river at Carr Beds, Rockliffe on the 17/9 and a Hobby there on the 20/9. With lower water levels on the River Eden waders reappeared with 3 Green Sandpiper and a dozen Snipe at Carr Beds on the 19/9 and a Black Tailed Godwit there on the 27/9.

A small number of Curlew Sandpipers were reported from the Solway with one at Port Carlisle on the 16/9 and again on 19/9 and 2 at both Port Carlisle and Anthorn on the 20/9. A Spotted Redshank was also present at Anthorn on the 20/9/09.

An Otter was also seen really well in the River Eden at Carlisle Cricket pitch on the 18/9/09 unusually in the middle of the day.

A small number of Med Gulls remained at Workington including the injured bird while past on seawatching were seen 5 Common Scoter and a few Red Throated Divers. Seawatching from Bowness produced a Puffin and a Great Skua as well as a dozen Scaup, the first of the winter.

September closed with the first of the returning Barnacle Geese calling overhead at several places on the last day of the month.

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.