October

The month started with a lovely Ross' goose on the 5th October on Rockliffe Marsh with c12,000 Barnacle geese, it remained intermittently all month.

There was nothing else out of the ordinary until the 16/10 when a Yellow Browed warbler was found in a garden at Anthorn where it showed for most of the day, suprisingly this lovely little warbler is becoming almost annual in north Cumbria.

Whooper swans began to reappear from the middle of the month but no large numbers have yet built up with a max 68 recorded at Campfield on the 19/10. On the same day 2 Spoonbill flew over Campfield but failed to land. Up to 4 Hen harriers have been recorded here in the late afternoons.

Another Black Tern was found at Longtown ponds though only stayed briefly on the 5/10, a White Winged Black Tern was also reported at campfield on the 7/10 but it has been suggested this was a Common Tern and the only photographs produced do indeed show a Common Tern.

A female long Tailed Duck was on the Esk at Longtown on the 26/10 and was reported again a week later.

The real treat of the month was the Waxwing Invasion that began to reach Cumbria on the 24/10 with 7 in Carlisle, by the end of the month numerous flock had been reported the largest of which was 300+ on Kingstown, Carlisle on the 30/10. Keswick had held up to 40 birds, Carlisle several flocks from 20 to 300, Dalston up to 30, Wetheral up to 30 and 14 at Gilsland with numbers continuing to build. Interestingly these birds seemed to be feeding by flycatching rather than berry feeding.





Other winter visitors arrived with 35 Brambling at Talkin Tarn on the 31/10 and up to 200 Twite moving between Grune Point on the 24/10 and Anthorn on the 30/10. A Greenshank was also present at Grune on the 24/10.

A massive count of 1500 Pintail were on the falling tide on the 27/10.

September

September proved to be a good month for me finding a lovely Red Necked Phalarope on my patch at Carr Beds at dusk on the 14/9 in gales force winds and rain with 3 exhausted Guillimots on the river Eden nearby for company. I couldnt take any photos in the poor conditions so i was disappointed when there was no sign of it the following morning, however while at work i got a text to say it was present in the afternoon and afterwork i managed to get some great photos in the sunshine. It was again absent the following morning but present in the afternoon and was thought to have been taken by a sparrowhawk late afternoon, a sad end to a lovely bird.






The rest of the month was also interesting starting with a flurry of waders on the 3/9 a good count of 7 Curlew Sandpipers, all juveniles were at Port Carlisle with a spotted redshank also in the harbour. This increased to 11 juveniles the following day with the Spotted Redshank still present. Also on the 4/9 Anthorn held 15 greenshank, 6 ruff and a Black Tailed Godwit, while nearby at Whitrigg there were 2 second summer Med Gulls and 4 Little Egrets. The following day there were 17 Greenshank, 4 Ruff and 2 Little Egrets at Anthorn. On the 6/9 there were still 9 juvenile Curlew Sandpiper at Port Carlisle and away from the Solway on Thakka Flash near Penrith there were 2 Ruff. On the 12/9 there were still 7 Curlew Sandpiper at Port Carlisle with the Spotted Redshank still present as well.

A break from waders gave a female Marsh Harrier over Tindale Fell/Tarn on the 6/9, while 2 Common Terns there on the 10/9 were unusual.

The 7/9 brought 2 Black Terns to Longtown pools with 1 still present the following day which stayed until the 10/9.



Longtown also had an Osprey over the river Esk on the 8/9.

The strong winds previously mentioned on the 14/9 were productive with Black Tern on the River Eden of Rockliffe village as well as 13 Greenshank and a late Swift. There was also a Black Tern on the river Esk at longtown and 2 Ruddy Shelduck were in the river Eden channel at Rockliffe Marsh.

The wind also brought one of the very few Petrels of this year past Workington Pier, a Leach's.

I went on holiday to Cornwall on the 18/9 hoping not to miss much locally. There were Black Terns at Talkin Tarn on the 18/9 and one at Port Carlisle harbour the following day. Another Leachs Petrel went past workington on the 19/9 and one on the 20/9, while a count of 7 Med gull there was a high one.

There was a little Stint at Anthorn on the 20/9 with 2 guillimot there still suffering the effects of the storm all of which were still present the following day.

Also there were up to 5 Little Egrets in the vicinity of Campfield Marsh one of which was a colour ringed bird ringed in the Isle of Man.

2 Little Gulls were on Longtown Ponds on the 21/9 while a Brambling was ringed at Bass Lake on the 27/9 and a Waxwing was reported on the 25/9 from Dalston.

Another good migrant reported was a Yellow Browed warbler in a jockey Shield, Castle Carrock garden.

AUGUST

August is always a busy month with plenty of waders moving through.

Last months Semi Palmated Sandpiper hung on until the 3/8 giving time to study it further as opinions seemed to concure that it was a Semi P.

Away from the coast up to 2 Marsh Harriers frequented Tindale tarn on the 9-10/8, a hobby flew over on the 12/8 while a single Osprey on the 24th was joined by a second bird on the 25th. Two Ospreys were also seen over the river Esk at Longtown on the 17/8 and two were over the Caldew river near Cummersdale on the 26/8. An adult Hobby was also present over Brampton fish farm on the 25/8.

An adult Spotted Redshank at Port Carlisle Harbour from the 21/8 to the end of the month was joined on the 28/8 by a juvenile.

Curlew Sandpipers began to pass through as well with one at Port Carlisle on the 23/8 and 2 on the 29/8 then one at Anthorn on the 30/8 and Little Stint one at Grune point on the 24/8 and another again at Port Carlisle on the same day where 3 Little Egrets were also seen. Up to 6 Ruff were also present for the last week of the month at Anthorn with 1 or 2 birds on the Campfield Marsh waders scrape as well.

At Carr Beds Greenshank began to build up towards the end of the month with an impressive 21 on the 23rd and 24th of August, Green Sandpiper were present every day with a peak of 5 mid month and 3 Ruff were also present on the 23/8. Snipe started to reappear as well with up to 10 present. A Wood Sandpiper was also reported on the River Eden near Rockliffe on the 15/8.

Also at Carr Beds on the 3rd and 4/8 was a single Little Ringed plover while at Thakka Flash near Penrith a Little Ringed plover called in on the 22/8/10.

A late Swift flew over Anthorn on the 27/8

The month finished with an excellent record of 1 then 2 Lapland Buntings, always a scarce bird in Cumbria, at Tindale Tarn.

No decent bird photos from North cumbria this month so a Lizard from Finlandrigg instead.

JULY

July was a more interesting month in Cumbra with waders on the move again as Autumn begins.

3 Green Sandpiper remained at Carr Beds all month becoming 6 for the last week of the month. Also present in the last week of the month were between 2 and 12 Greenshank. The windy period in the first week of the month saw a Little Ringed Plover downstream from Rockliffe and 8 Black Tailed Godwits. A Grasshopper Warbler continued to reel all month at Carr Beds even in windy conditions and a Winchat on the 27/7 was unusual. A female Garganey was also present on the 25/7/10

A Wood Sandpiper was seen briefly at Thacka Flash near Penrith on the 19/7/10

Longtown saw an Osprey on the 2/7/10 with a juvenile Yellow Wagtail also present on the river shingle. Another Osprey flew over Talkin Tarn on the 20/7 heading for Tindale tarn.

A Red Kite was found near Anthorn which showed a Green left wing and Blue right wing tag making it a 2001 Dumfries and Galloway bird, always a scarce bird in cumbria I managed to grab this pathetic photo with my macro lens.



Owl watching was still rewarding on the occasional still evening with up to 3 Short Eared Owls and 3 fledged juvenile Long Eared Owls in the Upper Gelt area. A hobby also flew over here and I managed some marginally better photos. A brood of fledged Winchats were also seen. Another Hobby was seen at Wedholme Flow on the 20/7/10.



A pair of Little Owls with 2 juveniles were also found along the River Eden.

The potential bird of the month was a Stint species found on the 28/7 by Darren Robson. After RBA and others were consulted the bird was put out as a SemiPalmated Sandpiper though in the following day or two the id was questioned as to the possibility of the bird being a Little Stint. Still present to the east of Port Carlisle at the time of writing the bird is still being generally accepted by those who have seen it in the field as a SemiP Sandpiper and on the second occasion that I saw it it certainly seemed to show Palmations/webs between the upper toes. The plumage does seem to contain some characteristics of Little stint including two "tram lines" down the back and some rufous coloration on the upper scapulars but the feeding action of a slower picking type and the structure of the bird do not suggest Little Stint. As far as I understand the webbing is diagnostic where as the plumage can be variable so assuming the webbing was not a trick of the mud, which it did not seem to be as other birds feeding in the same area did not show it, the vote would have to go for SemiP. It will be interesting to see if the experts come up with a definate conclusion, either way an interesting bird.

Also in the vicinty of Port Carlisle harbour was an adult Spotted Redshank on the 30/7 with Little Egret and Peregrine seen while 58 Manx Shearwater were reported the following day.

June

June is always a fairly quiet month but some good birds still appear. The month started with a Green winged Teal at Campfield RSPB from 2-6th June and a Quail calling nearby. Quail appeared at a few places with 3 near Dalston, 1 near Bromfield and another near Longtown in the first 2 weeks on June.

Red Kite over Anthorn was a good record on the 5/6/10 and a summer plumage Spotted Redshank was near Port Carlisle harbour on the 21/6. 3 Green Sandpiper were seen at Carr beds, Rockliffe on the 25/6 presumably returning birds but just possibly still going North.
Two Whooper Swans, both injured birds, were also at Rockliffe with one bird now having been present for 4 years and a Grasshopper Warbler reeled regularly late evening at Carr beds.

A walk at Miltonrigg on the 14/6 was well rewarded with 2 adult and 4 recently fledged young wood Warblers and a Crossbill over.

The last week or so of June proved to be excellent for Owls on the Geltsdale reserve with up to 3 Short Eared Owls, 2 Barn Owls and a lovely long Eared Owl showing well. Cuckoo and Tree Pipits are also both around in good numbers.


For me the bird of the month apart from the owls was this stunning Marmoras Warbler in Gwent, Wales

May

May is always a great month where ever you live. I'll start with a pic of last month Curlew Sandpiper which i forgot to include, a lovely summer plumage individual.


Two more late records for April were a drake Garganey at Campfield Marsh RSPB on the 30/4 and 2 Dotterel on Melmerby Fell on the same date. The Gargeney remained until the 1/5 and a female Marsh Harrier was reported from Bowness Common on the 6/5.

After that it went a bit quiet for a few days but 5 male Yellow wagtails at Longtown on the 5/5 was a pleasing count and a Greenshank was at Carr beds on the 7/5. The 9/5 proved good for me though finding a Wood sandpiper on the river shingle at Longtown, it seemed settled when I left late evening but there was no sign the following morning

On the 12/5 the wind returned to the western direction that brings Skuas up the Solway and 4 Pomarine Skuas and 2 Artic were seen from Bowness. On the 13/5 6 Poms went past with a single of Bonxie and Artic Skua then on the 15/5 that great prize a Long Tailed Skua was seen and also 3 Poms, 2 Artics and a Great skua. The following day proved to be the best of the season with 11 long tailed Skua, 11 Poms, 2 Artics and a Great skua. Interestingly though none of these were seen particularly well 10 of the long Taileds in a single group were seen to come in high then rise up and up until they eventually disappeared into dark cloud, not something I have ever seen before and contrary to the belief that cloud cover keeps the skuas low down. The last of the skuas of the season on the 17/5 were 2 Artics and a Great Skua and a distant but possible 4 Long Tailed skuas.

A trip up to jockey shield/upper Gelt was well rewarded on the 18/5 with short Eared Owl, Barn Owl, Long Eared Owl and calling Tawny Owl as well as 2 male Black Grouse, 3 cuckoos and a Tree pipit.

Two Ospreys went through over Tindale Tarn on the 19/5 and the following day another passed over Dalston.

The 20/5 saw a Little Ringed plover in the vicinty of Rockliffe which was still present two days later and the 2o/5 also saw 2 lovely Spoonbills on the roadside scrape at Campfield Marsh unusually they were still present the following day and a careful sneak throught the gorse allowed a photo without bothering the birds. They were joined by a full summer plumage Spotted redshank on the 21/5 as well while several Grasshopper Warbler reeled from nearby gorse scrub.

The last week of May for me was spent on Mull which was heavenly with the pick of the birds being this calling Corncrake, though finding a Black Kite and watching a White Tailed Eagle attack a Gannet rate pretty highly to.


In North Cumbria a Wood Sandpiper graced the roadside scrape at Campfield Marsh for the 23 and 24/5.

Mid March to the End of April

Well its been 6 weeks rather than 2 since my last post and I can only blame computer troubles, at least I should have plenty to write about in this post as this period cover both the spring migrants and the start of the Skua passage.

The first of the Sand Martins arrived on the 17/3/10 with 4 at Cummersdale near Carlisle, Swallows were not for behind with one over the river at langwathby on the 20/3 quite early. Swifts had to wait a while longer to arrive but were still early with 3 in Stanwix, Carlisle on the 23/4 and good numbers in by the 29/4 again this was early.

Our other expected March Migrant the Chiffchaff arrived in small numbers on the 20/3 with the Willow Warbler early to arrive on the 6/4/10. Blackcaps in contrast seem to sneak in almost unnoticed.

The rest of the migrants waited until April though in the case of Common Sandpiper only just with one at Carr beds on the 1/4 with the first of the passage Greenshanks there on the 23/4.
Whimbrel appeared in small numbers on the same day with 15 at Longtown on the Esk and continued to be reported in good numbers with 130 near Port Carlisle on the 30/4. A Green Sandpiper reappeared at CArr beds on the 11/4 and was seen regularly until the last week of the month.

Yellow Wagtail reappeared fairly early on the 10/4 with a male on the Esk and a good count of 5 males there on the 28/4. While counts of 14 White Wagtails at Carr Beds and 10 at Longtoown in the last week of April seemed large to me.

Pied Flycatcher was also in by the 12/4 in Lower Gelt woods and Grasshopper Warbler made it this far north by the 18/4. Whitethroat was first reported near Carlisle on the 21/4 and the first Lesser Whitethroats were at Bowness NR and North Plain on the 23/4.

The Bass lake Ospreys had returned by the 1/4 and settled into nest building straight away. While passage Ospreys were reported in big numbers with 8 through the Carr Beds/Rockliffe area in the week of the 17-24th April and 3 reported in an hour from the Dalston area on the 21/4, one through tindale tarn on the 27/4 and one over the M6 Eden bridge on the 23/4. Here is one of the Carr Beds birds flying overhead.



Other passage waders this April included Spotted Redshank in Port Carlisle harbour on the 12/4. Curlew sandpiper a summer plumage bird on 28/4 Bowness Railings and 2 different Little Stints, one on 26/4 one on the 28/4 both at Bowness railings with the big Dunlin flock.

Also on the move and taking advantage of the good soaring weather were a Crane on the 10/4 over Lanercost and a White Stork over Carlisle/Wigton on the 11/4.

Whooper Swans moved out at the end of the first week of April with 28 still reported at Lessonhall, while good numbers of Pinkfeet and some Barnacle Geese remained to the end of the month. 2 excellent geese records of Snow Goose and Greenland White Front in with c200 Pinks in field to the north of the road at Longcroft came on the 9/4/10. While a Bean Goose was at Whiterigg on the 4/4.

A Garganey was at Easton on a small flash on the 15/4 and remained a few days, then a pair of Gargeney were at North Plain from the 29/4 though hard to see in the long reeds. Also at North Plain were up to 70 black Tailed Godwits some in lovely summer dress and a Little Egret on the 11/4 while a Marsh Harrier was reported on the 23/3.

Last but not least came the Skua Passage. It started for me with a Bonxie on the 5/4 the the Pomarine Skuas began on the 16/4 with 2 past the Viaduct. Then a run of moderate SW winds brought 6 Pomarine Skua past Bowness on the 26/4 with 1 each of Artic and Great Skua and a bonus of 3 Little Gulls and c90 Scoter. The 27/4 saw 2 Pomarines past and the 28/4 5 poms with another Great and Another Artic skua past. The 29/4 and the 30/4 both produced a single pomarine Skua with another Great Skua on the latter date. The wind then swang swung northerly and the passage ceased.

It also sees the start of the butterflies hatching this month and I had my first Orange Tip on the 19/4, Large White on the 17/4 and this lovely green Hairsteak on the 21/4.