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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brianfm" data-source="post: 1385152" data-attributes="member: 11997">14th Jan.  Today was to be a ‘reccy’ of the Local Group trip on Saturday to Grune Point, Cumbria and the Gretna Starling roost.  After a few problems with traffic hold ups in the city, Graham was soon driving along the Tyne Valley and we were enjoying the wonderful vista in this area and noticing the mists that lay in the bottom of the valley.  It was a bright if somewhat cold day and in fact the roads as I left my home had been frozen.  There did seem to be a rise in temperatures as we journeyed westwards.  Our first stop was Talkin Tarn, near Brampton in Cumbria.We made a stop at Talkin Tarn, as we had last winter found a large flock of Brambling here at around the same time of year.  A drake Smew had also been reported.  We were soon searching for the Smew across the Tarn, but unfortunately bright early sun made this a difficult business.  As it turned out this didn’t really matter as we found later that the Smew had moved to Tindale Tarn, a few miles away, and we hadn’t the time to visit there today.  We had no more luck with Brambling either although I understand one or two had been reported recently.  We did find several Goosanders on the Tarn, but little else apart from the customary Mute Swan, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen and Coot.  At the feeding station Robin, Blackbird, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit and Nuthatch were found and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew high up into the tree tops.  I don’t seem to be able to go out these days with out finding woodpeckers!  Just before we left I got my eye on a high flying Sparrowhawk which showed well against the blue sky.  I had though I had seen one over the tops of the trees, its gliding then flapping flight giving it away, so there may well have been two of them.I know Cumbria well so enjoyed passing through the city of Carlisle, through Wigton and onto Silloth where we stopped and found a flock of Wigeon on the sea.  We had seen a number of Common Buzzard on this part of the journey.  Two of them had looked like bits of tree stump until I had looked through the binoculars.  Kestrel was also seen.  Silloth is not a metropolis and we found the fish and chip shop closed, the café closed indefinitely for renovation, and the one pub that was open was empty of customers and not serving lunches in winter.  I felt sorry for the young lady in the pub who looked rather cold and lonely.  Anyway I was pleased I had brought my own sandwiches and flask with me!  I had once stayed in Silloth at a holiday camp some years ago when touring Lakeland and Dumfries (don’t ask me why) and had walked to the area where we were now heading.  I hadn’t walked to the actual point then and had failed to discover, as we did today, what a wonderful area of the Solway it is.We left from the old hotel which is now being demolished which seemed such a shame and as soon as I saw the Saltmarsh I guessed we were going to be in for some good birding, and so we were.  Across the marsh, Grey Heron, Great Black Backed Gulls and large numbers of Redshank were soon picked up in the saltwater filled channels..  The tide was at its highest and this does appear to be a good time to visit.  Large packed flocks of waders were soon in the air in the distance and it didn’t take long to realise that these were flocks of Knot.  One of the flocks seemed to contain at least 1,500-2,000 birds, although I often underestimate and they were a good distance away.  The flocks of Knot kept us entertained on the walk to the point.  I knew this area was good for Scaup and I was really pleased to have good views of them in number, initially at distance then in close up.  I was amazed that some of them had let us get so close to them without flying off.  Shelduck, Mallard, Wigeon and Red Breasted Merganser were seen in this area too and near the point a flock of Pintail, the drakes being one of the more attractive of wildfowl in my opinion, swam slowly past.  There were also large parties of Oystercatcher constantly flying from one area to another.To the east of us lay the northern Cumbria fells and to the west lay the coast and hills of Dumfries.  Neither could be seen wonderfully well in the haze.  We continued to watch the flocks of Knot continually lifting, breaking up and then rejoining.  It didn’t take too long to reach the point and we decided to take the alternative path for our return along what is really a rather narrow spit of land which is in part covered by thick gorse and shallow pools.  We found a lone Whooper Swan on the sea edge and watched as it slowly swam out into the Solway.  We then found a number of Ringed Plover resting on a shingle bank.  There were certainly more than 50, and there was perhaps many more.  A small party of geese flew over some distance away from us and on reflection I think they were probably Pink Footed Geese although I wasn’t certain at the time.  I was surprised that we had seen no Barnacle Geese at all.  We later spoke with a couple who lived locally and they reported that the usual numbers of Barnacle Geese had it appears chosen to stay in the Mersehead and Caerlaverock areas of Dumfries this year.It had been a very enjoyable walk in a wonderful area that I was amazed that I had not thought to visit before now.  It is always good to find and explore new areas though.  Our return walk was at a brisk pace as we needed to get up to Gretna before sunset.  We were soon back to the car where Collared Doves, Chaffinches and House Sparrows flew around the attractive but neglected building.  The AA three star sign still hung at the side of the hotel suggesting a once popular hotel had hit upon hard times.A rather fast drive got us through Carlisle and heading north to Gretna.  We arrived at our chosen viewing sight just on time as a small flock of Starlings flew in.  At this point I was totally unaware of the spectacle that awaited me over the next half hour.  Perhaps the fact that there were around 8 photographers there with their mega cameras should have suggested something special was about to happen.  We found a good point high in the field as flocks of Starlings began to fly in from all directions, each flock twisting and turning in the air, then eventually joining up with one another.  Even watching each small flock was quite a sight.  Some would suddenly appear from apparently no where.  There were 3 or 4 Common Buzzards up in the air with the Starlings at this point and they remained throughout.  As it got a little darker and I got a little colder, more and more flocks of Starlings flew into the area.  At times two very large flocks would be flying together then suddenly this would become one large flock.  They were beginning to cover a really large area and it was quite an experience having these birds fly directly overhead.Once the flock had really become large and only a few late comers were joining it the wildlife extravaganza really did begin.  This was one large magic carpet twisting and turning across the sky showing various shades of grey and varying shapes, from long drawn out narrow twisting lines, to large wide masses of grey/black.  At times parts of the sky were completely blackened.  I watched a Sparrowhawk fly over my head and away from the flock, maybe having caught a Starling, then I got my binoculars on a Peregrine Falcon as it flew through an area of the flock and kept stretching out its talons to catch its prey.  I’m none too sure whether it did at that point.Well I’m sure all of you have seen this on TV and some will have seen this in reality.  I had only ever seen this on T V before, apart from some lesser Starling roosts in the city of Newcastle some years ago now.  I can only say that experiencing this natural performance is up there in my top nature experiences and nothing can beat being there to witness it live.  I think on this evening we were very lucky to be in the perfect position to witness this.  It went on for almost a half hour before the mass of Starlings eventually dropped from the sky into roost.  Fantastic!  I reckon that there were several 100,000s of birds and some have suggested around a million, which is something I wouldn’t argue with.Well the day had brought us 53 species of bird, 11 new ones for the year list, one of which was a very brief view of a Tawny Owl as we left Gretna to return to Newcastle.  The Starling Roost had given me one of my greatest birding experiences.No, there are no photos.  I was too enthralled in my experience today to bother with photographs, none of which in my opinion could reflect the experience adequately, nor reflect my excitement</blockquote>

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