Spent a very short time in Cumbria visiting family.
- On the way up, on Wednesday afternoon, I was rewarded with brilliant views of 25+ Red Kites on the section of the M40 between the M25 and Oxford.
On Thursday, Brian took me to Bowness-on-Solway for a Cumbria Spectacular! With the Scottish hills (and Criffel in particular) providing the backdrop, the views were as outstanding as the birding.
- Pick of the day for me was the sight of 100+ Whooper Swans on the estuary near Anthorn.
- Not far behind, was the sight of 1000+ Barnacle Geese at the same place.
- Between Bowness-on-Solway and Port Carlisle, we saw hundreds of Pink-footed Geese flying over.
- At RSPB Campfield Marsh we had superb views of a Tawny Owl perched on the branch of a tree some 50-100 metres away. At the feeders, there was an abundance of Tree Sparrows as well as a few very welcome Greenfinches. A couple of flyover Siskins caught our attention.
- Most of our effort was taken up following the several thousand Golden Plover in the hope of finding the single Dotterel that had been seen with them recently. Try as we may we could not find it, but the movement of the plovers was a spectacle in itself.
On the way home on Friday, I detoured to Shrewsbury to twitch the American Night Heron at Quarry Park in the Dingle Gardens.
- This had to be the easiest twitch of the year; the heron was sitting out on a branch of a bush, enjoying the sunshine, not more than 10 metres from me.
Superb!
NW Cumbria is right up there with the best birding sites in the country.
NW Cumbria is right up there with the best birding sites in the country.
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