A short morning walk around South Walney featured
Sand Martins,
Reed Buntings,
Sedge Warblers,
Meadow Pipits and a family of
Little Grebes. The reserve's legendary leucistic
Curlew graced us with an appearance. Later on we did some birding from a road just into the Lakes National Park, seeing singles of
Osprey and
Red Kite, and enjoying the sound of a
Willow Warbler and three
Reed Buntings singing while
House Martins,
Swallows and
Swifts fed over the boggy area. A
Siskin and a couple of
redpolls flew over. We saw 11
Buzzards, two
Kestrels and a handful of commuting
Little Egrets and
Grey Herons.
An evening seawatch back at South Walney produced 114
Manx Shearwaters, 93
Common Scoters, any
Eiders, five
Red-breasted Mergansers, four
Kittiwakes, two
Guillemots, a few
Gannets and a scattering of
Little and
Sandwich Terns, plus a lone
Arctic. Small-ish flocks of
Sanderlings and
Knots patrolled the beach, along with a rather fewer
Dunlin, while a
Ringed Plover was busy displaying.
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| leucistic Curlew at South Walney |
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| Swallows in the Lake District NP |
