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This typifies Campfield Marsh on a late April afternoon - sun coming in at a low angle under storm clouds. A wonderful colour combination: dark grey April skies and blazing gorse. Male Great Spotted Woodpecker seems to be hording a small delicacy in hole in the tree trunk. He is already in pristine...

Campfield Marsh. Now we come to the 3rd part of the Blog, having dealt with accommodation issues. We can start to describe the main features of the area which is after all what you will be coming to enjoy, be it Spring, Summer or Winter. In the case of birders, winter in the Solway area is of particular...

Black-tailed Godwit. After lunch, Judith said to me,”I'll have to get into the garden. These last two days of sunshine and rain have brought everything on. “OK,” I said, “I need a walk. I'll go down the Lonning and see what's there.” Unusually there was very...

Pinkfeet against distant snow-clad Skiddaw. Wall to wall sunshine from dawn, with fluffy Constable-style clouds – completely windless. What a day! We had to go to Kirkbride so set off along the saltmarsh and within a couple of minutes ran into two Little Egrets near Biglands lay-by. They...

Newly arrived male Siskin - 30 3 13 We have to admit that over the past several weeks we have been near to hibernating. Those awful Siberian winds have been battering across the Pennines, sweeping the snowfields of the western slopes and withering the benign Solway Basin. Even the two tides per day...

Badger routings in the orchard - 24 3 13 Our house, garden and orchard lie slap in the middle of the Campfield Marsh Reserve and we take great joy in all the birds and animals that flow across us in their various pursuits. We gaze out across the meadows and moss at the back, and the saltmarsh and...

Across the Meadow Pools towards the snow clad Lakeland Fells - 20 3 13 10th March. Small flocks of Curlew are regularly appearing on the tideline. Watched this Kestrel hunting along the wetlands in front of the hide. It kept dropping down amongst the rushes but rapidly re-emerged...

Barnacles beating against the blizzard early morning, here at Campfield. Unusually, we are getting our fair share of winter. Snow has been blizzarding since early this morning and has continued unabated as we write at 3.45 pm. Wind chill factor feels like the Arctic. Even Sellafield, just round...

Today, I was in pensive mood after yesterday's events. It was a day for garden birds. Yesterday, I'd speculated about the identity of parties of small birds moving along the saltmarsh. But, whilst into my third cup of coffee, I had a minor triumph: a small party came swanning down the saltmarsh...

'Conversation piece' Oh dear! An early hospital appointment, first thing Monday morning! The weather was dull, raining and bitterly cold. Things could only get better . . . and so they did! Coming through Drumburgh at 8 o'clock, a flock of about 1500 Barnacles were just coming in...

Norman Holton writes: “Over the last couple of months I have been moving my remote camera around the reserve to see what I might capture. The problem with this is sifting through the thousands of images you get (like bits of vegetation blowing in the wind) for the few good ones. It is also interesting...

Tantalising view of geese across the flooded meadows. We had been aware for a few days that there was goose activity back over on the Reserve and local prominent birders, after much hard work, had estimated that there were in excess of 10.000 Pinkfeet on the Solway. So, in the middle of the afternoon...

Barnacles flocks in snow at Cardurnock The weathermen had been quite precise with their forecast with snow at low level followed by sleet turning to rain. So on awakening to a world of white, I said to Judith, “I'll get the van ready while you get your camera stuff together. We can look...

Today was the last day of the high tide series here on the Solway and we seem to have escaped any serious flooding. The weather people had been forecasting high winds, rain and lots of floods coupled with the high Spring tides. All in all, we had the perfect storm in the making - but it just didn't...

Maryland farm on the very edge of the saltmarsh, overlooking the Pool - after a night of snow. The hamlet of Cardurnock - a small farming community that makes its living from grazing sheep and cattle on the wide estuary pastures. These are the little black and white Barnacle Geese that return...

Barnacles with snow-clad Criffel in the background. The day started really well. Judith appeared in the bedroom with a fully loaded breakfast tray. “Strange,” I thought, 'It's not my birthday and it's only the beginning of Lent.” So, not wanting to look a gift-horse in...

Snow on the Scottish Hills viewed from Campfield Marsh - 22 1 13 The depth of winter this year at Campfield has been decidedly undramatic, whilst the rest of the country, if TV is to be believed, has suffered under continents of snow and ice, blocked roads, closed schools and more sledging than you...

For the past week or so we have been able to hear the wonderful sound of Whoopers , back over on the reserve wetlands, from the hamlet here at West Common. Although the weather has been very inclement recently and yesterday was no exception, we decided to take a walk down North Plain Lonning in hopeful...

New Year's Day was crisp and sunny. Here are a few of the birds which put in an appearance today. Early morning now frequent visitors to the saltmarsh. Oystercatchers had been giving aerial displays as the tide came in at noon. The small Barnacle flock had stayed to graze. A pair...

A Christmas scene 25 th December 2012 A wonderful gift at Christmas! On opening the curtains on Christmas morning, somewhat belatedly I might add, as I had been playing with my new 'toys', namely a new publication about Talbot Kelly – the bird artist. I was greeted with the fantastic...

Winter descended very suddenly here on the Solway. One day it was floods and water everywhere; next day, ice and frost – the place was a skating rink! On opening the curtains, we beheld a wonderful winter estuary: a deep hoarfrost; deep blue skies; the whole thing in shades of blue and pink...

Signs of Winter on the Solway. Having been to Carlisle in the morning, arrived back at Campfield in good time. The weather was perfect: sunshine with little wind, On arrival at Saltmarsh Pool the Great White Egret and three Little Egret , all very visible, watched by several other birders who...

Main business of the day was going to be a trip to the surgery for jabs and Judith to do a little shopping – after that the world was our oyster! So Judith said, “ let's take the motorhome, we'll have a picnic lunch and take the cameras and scopes and go on a 'wild goose chase'...

PHOTOGRAPHIC REVIEW OF EARLY NOVEMBER 1st November 2012 Massed flock of Whooper Swans at Seaville. Close-up of Whoopers at Seaville with Crifell in the background. Whoopers bathing and preening. Looking very relaxed. Further groups were coming in all the time. Fieldfares...

It might be that in some cases young people may have difficulty in finding a cause or espousing an intent in life that will give them direction for the year's ahead. In my own case, I was spared the quandary. Having just entered secondary school, I was laid low with septic tonsillitis, which involved...