Birds in Cumbria (1 Viewer)

[eagle33]

Cheers Craig - I'm often in that area, so I'll take a look next time.

BTW, was that your MG parked at Soddy last Sunday morning? I did have a quick look around, but the biting wind got the better of me, so my apologies if I missed you

Steve.

Yes it was Steve, wounder where i was to miss you????

 

[oncebittern]

White Tailed Sea Eagle at Bowness on Solway.

Arrived at midday, but missed it on the Cumbria side. Managed good views of it on the Dumfries side though, but too far off for anything but the poorest 'record shot' on the camera.

Absolutely stunning bird, even at that distance, particularly when it was getting harassed by one of the local buzzards, when its massive size really became apparent - it simply dwarfed the buzzard!

Had 1/2 hour watching it flying around the fields, then it started thermalling upwards, and whilst it remained in view with a scope, it was getting further away all the time. I left at about 2.30.

BBC were there, so it should get featured on Look North tonight.

I've added the two 'best' shots I took, but before anyone starts knocking my photography, please remember that the bird was over 1.5 miles away!

 

[Newton Stringer]

White Tailed Sea Eagle at Bowness on Solway.

Arrived at midday, but missed it on the Cumbria side. Managed good views of it on the Dumfries side though, but too far off for anything but the poorest 'record shot' on the camera.

Absolutely stunning bird, even at that distance, particularly when it was getting harassed by one of the local buzzards, when its massive size really became apparent - it simply dwarfed the buzzard!

Had 1/2 hour watching it flying around the fields, then it started thermalling upwards, and whilst it remained in view with a scope, it was getting further away all the time. I left at about 2.30.

BBC were there, so it should get featured on Look North tonight.

A top bird !! I hope you checked it for Bald Eagle !!

 

[Stewart J.]

Nice one guys I'm so envious, been on leave till today when I had to rejoin my ship, what an absolute bummer:C

What a great find.

ATB and good luck to all going for it

Stewart

 

[level seven]

BBC were there, so it should get featured on Look North tonight.

It was!

Two great birds on view. The eagle and Carol Malia...

 

[christineredgate]

Yes,it was mentioned on the local news report by Radio Cumbria.Do hope it returns.

 

[thorin]

Plenty around on Grune point today. Snow bunting feeding on the shingle past the old Pill box, very confiding. Also 2 Little Stints, 2 Long Tailed Ducks, 16 Scaup, c800 Bar Tailed godwits, c600 Knot, Greenshank, Peregrine, Merlin, SE Owl far out on the marsh. Also in Silloth today another Juv Iceland Gull was found and the other Juv Iceland Gull was still present in Maryport.

cheers Nick

 

[eagle33]

Plenty around on Grune point today. Snow bunting feeding on the shingle past the old Pill box, very confiding. Also 2 Little Stints, 2 Long Tailed Ducks, 16 Scaup, c800 Bar Tailed godwits, c600 Knot, Greenshank, Peregrine, Merlin, SE Owl far out on the marsh. Also in Silloth today another Juv Iceland Gull was found and the other Juv Iceland Gull was still present in Maryport.

cheers Nick

It was a great day Nick!!!
I went on to see the Maryport Iceland gull on the roof of the BP garage in centre of town.
Then on to Soddy Gap for great views of Barn Owl and Short-eared Owl.

 

[oncebittern]

Bass Lake

Spent a couple of hours looking around this afternoon, and found:

Mallards, Tufties, Wigeon, Goldeneye, c50 Cormorants, 2 Goosander (1M, 1F), 3 RB Merganser (2M, 1F), 100+ Greylags with 1 (possibly 2) Pink Foots amongst them, c14 Great Crested Grebes.

Also 3 Otters showing well for most of the afternoon, which really made my day :t:

Steve.

 

[ColonelBlimp]

Had a smashing afternoon walking around the tops by Windermere, and down by the shore. Pretty standard in terms of birds but had a cracking total of 7 RB Mergansers on the lake giving great views even though bins.

Just looking forward to the Ospreys coming back to Bassenthwaite! Does anyone know when they'll start to return?

 

[oncebittern]

Had a smashing afternoon walking around the tops by Windermere, and down by the shore. Pretty standard in terms of birds but had a cracking total of 7 RB Mergansers on the lake giving great views even though bins.

Just looking forward to the Ospreys coming back to Bassenthwaite! Does anyone know when they'll start to return?

Last year it was April 10th. However, one was sighted in Dumfries a couple of days ago, so maybe it will be a bit earlier this year.

I'm sure the news will be splashed all over BF when it happens, so you shouldn't miss it!

I was at Bassenthwaite today - no Ospreys yet

 

[NickPatel92]

Hi,

was up at Bassenthwaite lake on the 7th/8th Feb weekend, and i saw approx 150-200 Barnacle geese on the lake (NY218302) in Scarness bay, they were fairly near the shore of the lake, and next to them were many hundred Canadas and greylags.

This was early morning and after only a few minutes they all took off and flew away.

I was just wondering, from whoever regularly visits bassenthwaite and anyone else willing to help, if these are wild, possibly roosting before returning to solway, or just another fresh batch of ferals.

Thanks for any help in advance :t:

 

[solwaybirder]

Glaucous Gull at Sandsfield

Hi!,
A Glaucous Gull with a mixed flock of Gulls on the grass beside the river in front of old Sandsfield farm,at high tide.
Ian

 

[Julie Hogg]

Skinburness/Grune Point

Hi

I wonder if any of you locals can give me some advice about the Skinburness/Grune Point area? I will be visiting the area with our local RSPB group (Durham) on Saturday and I'm sure that some local knowledge would help us get the most from the day.

I did a recce last Friday (my first visit to these sites) but seemed to miss quite a bit (e.g. Scaup at Skinburness/Grune Point), mainly due to not knowing the tide times in advance, I think. It must have been a low tide as it seemed to stay out all day wherever I was (I also checked out Campfield Marsh and Old Sandsfield)! I think that high tide is 14:37 at Silloth on Saturday. Is high tide the best time to see Scaup in that area and where should we go i.e. Skinburness or walk out to the end of Grune Point?

I found the Snow Bunting at the end of Grune Point last Friday, but although I searched through all the Dunlin I saw on the beach near Skinburness I couldn't find a Little Stint (not helped by poor light due to time and weather conditions). Are the waders usually around the Skinburness end of the beach and, if high tide is the best time to see the Scaup, would there still be any sand exposed for the waders?

I'd really appreciate any advice with this as we need to make sure we visit sites in the best order for the tides (we'll definitely be going to the hide at Campfield, although I don't know whether we'll have time to walk to Old Sandsfield - it seemed to be about a 2-mile round trip from the only place with space to park a minibus).

Please email me at [email protected] if you can help

Many thanks

Julie Hogg

 

[eagle33]

sent you an email julie

Hi

I wonder if any of you locals can give me some advice about the Skinburness/Grune Point area? I will be visiting the area with our local RSPB group (Durham) on Saturday and I'm sure that some local knowledge would help us get the most from the day.

I did a recce last Friday (my first visit to these sites) but seemed to miss quite a bit (e.g. Scaup at Skinburness/Grune Point), mainly due to not knowing the tide times in advance, I think. It must have been a low tide as it seemed to stay out all day wherever I was (I also checked out Campfield Marsh and Old Sandsfield)! I think that high tide is 14:37 at Silloth on Saturday. Is high tide the best time to see Scaup in that area and where should we go i.e. Skinburness or walk out to the end of Grune Point?

I found the Snow Bunting at the end of Grune Point last Friday, but although I searched through all the Dunlin I saw on the beach near Skinburness I couldn't find a Little Stint (not helped by poor light due to time and weather conditions). Are the waders usually around the Skinburness end of the beach and, if high tide is the best time to see the Scaup, would there still be any sand exposed for the waders?

I'd really appreciate any advice with this as we need to make sure we visit sites in the best order for the tides (we'll definitely be going to the hide at Campfield, although I don't know whether we'll have time to walk to Old Sandsfield - it seemed to be about a 2-mile round trip from the only place with space to park a minibus).

Please email me at [email protected] if you can help

Many thanks

Julie Hogg

 

[solwaybirder]

Glaucous Gull

The Glaucous Gull is roaming the St Anns area of Carlisle the pic is on a roof top on Briar Bank

 

[eagle33]

Glaucous gull on roofs of Briar Bank number 52. Carlilse

EDIT Whoops nope Iceland Gull

 

[eagle33]

Plenty of activity at Soddy Gap today

Low meadows
2 Shelduck
7 Curlew

Soddy Gap

Made a good start as I got out the car 5 Crossbill flew over calling.
An incredible 35 Goosander
6 bullfinch
Skylark singing.
3 pochard
18 Teal
9 wigeon
16 Lapwing
7 Curlew from low meadows probably.
3 Buzzard.
:t:

 

[Vipers]

Glaucous gull on roofs of Briar Bank number 52. Carlilse

Hi Craig

I know it's hard to tell from photos with nothing to compare size with, but that looks more like an Iceland Gull to me.

 

[eagle33]

Hi Craig

I know it's hard to tell from photos with nothing to compare size with, but that looks more like an Iceland Gull to me.

Edit Nice call Gary, having a bad day.....of coarse its an Iceland.