High North Pennines ... the Waders are back ...

 With the snow coming down and blown by a brisk Northeasterly the thermometer read 2 deg C as I headed out yesterday morning ... with visibility around 100m ...

Then the call of a Curlew giving reasons to be optimistic ... and an hour later, now on the high plateau that lovely plaintive call of Golden Plover ... there near the skyline stood the bird ...

... a little later came the song as a few more birds called and flew low, dipping beneath the horizon as they circled by ...

... and then another sound ... the unmistakable song of Dunlin with its slightly crazy quality reeling out across the plateau ...

... and a sharp alarm call ... a quick scan revealed the bird standing quite still and not far away ...

... and there it stood as I walked slowly away to leave it in its wild solitude  

 

Spring Waders on the Solway

 Late April should be prime time for skuas on the Solway ... however, westerly winds have been inconsistent to say the least.   With a brisk easterly blowing this morning there was little hope of any such action ...

A couple of Whitethroats were in good voice at Port Carlisle but very reluctant to show themselves ... doubtless the chilly wind contributed to that ...

Waders seemed to be rather scarce with low numbers of Redshanks around the harbour but just to the west by the outfall pipe a Whimbrel was feeding ...

With the tide well out at Bowness there seemed to be few birds around ... until distantly way out on the mudflats a group of waders flew in from the west ...

... the flock included 110 Black-tailed Godwits exhibiting a range of plumages from full breeding to birds still in winter plumage ... a small number of Knot were largely still in winter plumage ...

At Campfield Marsh the fields and pools along the lonnen held a good number of Lapwings which no doubt will stand a good chance of having high breeding productivity, protected by the new electric fence ...

... and a very smart male Wheatear fed distantly nearby ...