Saturday 27 July 2019

Geltsdale and The Solway ... a Hobby and Waders Galore ... and an unexpected Yellow Wagtail ...

An early morning visit to Tindale Tarn, Geltsdale Reserve on the hot day of the week was to check on Common Gulls and Wigeon ... a noisy juvenile Buzzard flew out of Tarn House Wood and was followed by an adult Hobby - a good bird for North Cumbria where the promise of increasing numbers of records in recent years has tended to wain ... and not for the first time the quest for one species results in something much better and totally unexpected ...

There was disappointingly no sign of any Common Gulls on the tarn possibly as a result of fluctuating water levels but three juvenile Wigeon were good to see ... then from the tall trees either side of Tarn House came the calls of Spotted Flycatchers as they performed their aerial forays ...




Then with the promise of the return wader passage delivering something interesting I was positioned by the old wall near Kirkland House at Port Carlisle an hour or so after the high tide and waited for the waders to drop in onto the exposing mud as the tide receded ... the numbers of Dunlin and Redshank were impressive with many hundreds of each species ... the Dunlin flew by in nice flocks and they were clearly all Dunlin ...


... as they circled around the old port they created some nice images ...




As the birds settled the focus shifted towards looking for juveniles ... some juvenile Redshank looking particularly pristine alongside the adults ...



A pair of Common Terns that had a week before been looking like a breeding pair were calling distantly and flying by ...



 The Dunlin started feeding and a few juveniles were noticable ...


... and the adults on the left look like C.a.schinzii in the foreground and C.a.alpina behind ...


And one of the Common Terns perched on the outfall post remaining faithful to the territory ...



Slightly apart from the main body of feeding waders a lone Black-tailed Godwit loafed among the rocky pools ...


... possibly the same individual that was solitary in its presence at Wedholme Flow a little while ago ...

Then a thin tseee call came from the island in the harbour ... what could there possibly be out there that calls just like a Yellow Wagtail ? ... and there it was perched on a stone ...


... calling repeatedly and preening ... a juvenile Yellow Wagtail and the first for me of this declining species in Cumbria for the year ...

As the tide went further out a line of waders fed along the shore just beyond the old cotton dock ... six adult  Knot still looking good with their rufous underparts ...


... and four Sanderling in transitional plumage ...


... adding something to the wader diversity ...

And nearby a nice little group of Little Egrets that has become pretty much the norm in recent times ...




Anthorn was virtually devoid of waders but Glasson Point had three Greenshank just on the edge of a Redshank flock ... a site that is often favoured by that species ...
















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