Blencathra (1 Viewer)

I'm heading to Blencathra on Saturday for a few days for a geology field trip. While I'll not get much free time, I was wondering if there's any good birds in this area to look out for while I'm out and about? For example, are ospreys back nearby, or does the area host any golden eagles that I could see?

Do any of the watercourses hold any of the divers or other interesting birds to watch out for?

Thanks.

The ospreys aren't back just yet. The solitary golden eagle in the Lakes is down at Haweswater, a bit of a drive from Blencathra, but has been seen displaying. The RSPB wardens usually start at Easter so they will scopes available and know the places he hangs out. He can be virtually impossible to find if not flying. Bassenthwaite is always worth a scan even without the ospreys but I am not aware of any diver reports this winter. If you are about on hills you should see ravens and peregrine. The migrants are starting to come through with wheatears as always in the lead. If your geologizing takes you to the coast then there are still good numbers of waders about and things will have started to arrive at St. Bees if you get down that far.

Hope this helps

Mono

Cheers - hopefully we'll get a sighting of something good. We've got a tight schedule so unlikely to find any spare time, but hopefully something good will come across. As we're outdoors practically all day, that might help us get decent sightings of whatever shows up.

Didn't see any eagles, but there were loads of common buzzards, a kestrel, a merlin and three peregrines to contend with. The latter was made up of one female and two males, I think a pair and an intruder into their territory.

I did see red kites from the M74 on the way down and on the way back.

Of migrant birds, chiffchaffs were calling in a few places, and I saw one wheatear today.

I also really enjoyed my brief visit to Caerlaverock on the way down to the Lake District, a reserve I'll definitely revisit.

If you have a cool £1.4 million pounds Blencathra or Saddleback has some call it is up for sale plus a lot of surrounding area and the title of Lord comes with the sale, the RSPB are supposed to be showing interest, if your interested the details are in this months Countryfile magazine. I can hope at winning the lotto.

Damian

Glad you had a good time. If you didn't go to Riggendale you wouldn't have seen the eagle, he doesn't venture far. The ospreys have returned to Bassenthwaite now, the first arriving on Tuesday, so you just missed them.

Boro Birder said:

If you have a cool £1.4 million pounds Blencathra or Saddleback has some call it is up for sale plus a lot of surrounding area and the title of Lord comes with the sale, the RSPB are supposed to be showing interest, if your interested the details are in this months Countryfile magazine. I can hope at winning the lotto.

Damian

Click to expand...

Looks like a community offer has been accepted. http://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/20...for-blencathra-has-been-accepted-in-principle