4th October 2009 – Local Birding

Chris arrived at mine at 0700hrs and we embarked on our intrepid adventure to Workington. We hoped that the strong westerlys from the previous day would have blown some interesting birds along the coast. However, as we set up our scopes to scan the sea we soon realised that there was little evidence to support this theory. The sea was very quiet, with only a few small groups of auks passing to keep us entertained. Things did get slightly better when a 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull flew past, Chris also noted another of the same age sat on the beach. When we returned to the car park and threw some bread the third Med Gull of the morning arrived in the form of ‘stumpy’ the long staying 2nd winter bird with the gammy leg! I attempted to photograph this individual as it swooped in to grab some bread!

Next we made our way to Silloth to look for the Lapland Bunting reported there in previous days. We did not locate the bunting, but managed nice views of an adult Mediterranean by the lifeboat station. News of a Glossy Ibis near Sandsfield on the river Eden prompted us to slightly change our plans. We had a good search in the gulleys and river bank for the Ibis; however the bird was never relocated. Good numbers of gulls roosting and a flyover Greenshank kept us entertained none-the-less!

We made our way down the Solway to Port Carlisle and Bowness; but besides a single Guillemot and a few Bar-tailed Godwits there was little else of note. We finished the day at Anthorn where we had opportunity to search through a fair selection of waders; the highlights being a Greenshank and a single juvenile Ruff.

It had been nice to do some local birding for a change……..