21/11/2015 In Cumbria birding with friends and family Barnacle Geese in their hundreds!

Saturday 21st November 2015
Anthorn and Campfield Marsh

Sue and I spent the weekend in Cumbria visiting family and friends.  It was only possible to fit in one day of birding -  Brian, Kenny and myself headed to the north west corner of the county to Anthorn and Campfield Marsh on the Solway Firth coast.  The weather was cold but dry with clear skies.  To the west was Criffel, pick the Scottish hills on show and to the south east were the snow-capped Lake District fells with Skiddaw gleaming in the sunshine. 

• The star item had to be the Barnacle Geese, with well over 1000 of them on the estuary from Anthorn round to the nature reserve at Campfield Marsh. 

• At the lovely village of Anthorn we also saw Golden Plover, Dunlin and a Knott.

• Pick of the birds at the feeders at Campfield Marsh was the Tree Sparrow.  It's nice to see these birds flourishing in Cumbria.

• On the path down to the hide we saw Bullfinch, Goldcrests and a couple of Fieldfare.

• From the hide, the pick of the many birds on show were the Pintails and Goosander.

Our target bird was the Snow Goose but try as we may we just could not find it among the Barnacle Geese.  One of the volunteers at Campfield said it tended to split it's time between the English and Scottish sides of the Solway and we were probably just unlucky today.  We were happy with that until, on the way home, we stopped to chat to a couple of other birders and discovered that they had seen the bird earlier - among the Barnacle Geese!

A terrific day out in one of the most beautiful settings you could wish for! 

Today's species list:

Barnacle Goose

Black-headed Gull

Blackbird

Blue Tit

Bullfinch

Buzzard

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Coal Tit

Collared Dove

Common Pheasant

Coot

Curlew

Dunlin

Egyptian Goose

Fieldfare

Gadwall

Goldcrest

Golden Plover

Goldfinch

Goosander

Great Crested Grebe

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Tit

Greenfinch

Grey Heron

Greylag Goose

Herring Gull

House Sparrow

Kestrel

Knot

Lapwing

Little Egret

Magpie

Mallard

Moorhen

Mute Swan

Nuthatch

Oystercatcher

Sanderling

Shelduck

Shoveler

Snipe

Starling

Teal
Tree Sparrow
Tufted Duck
Turnstone
Wigeon
Woodpigeon

Total = 50