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Campfield Marsh - early April. 6th April 2013 Sunny all day with a light SW wind. Early morning there were 14 Shelduck with two Mallard pairs out on the mudflats. A small group of Redshank came in with the tide. On the Meadow Pools, Wigeon and Teal were gathering and seemingly pairing up. The two...

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...

Crow on the lookout from the garden. Our house, as you may have gathered, is within the precincts of the Reserve, so we always consider that a bird seen in the garden is automatically a bird for the reserve – and we view it accordingly. We also feed the birds in the garden intensively, as indeed...

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...

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...

Anvil Cloud over the Solway estuary. We've definitely passed the Equinox: 12 hours of 'sunlight', 12hours of dark – the jury's still out on the sunlight bit! The equinoctial gales started right on time in the form of the tail-end of Hurricane Nadine which definitely stirred the...

Female Marsh Harrier hunting over hide wetland. The high tide series were starting to fall back - but with the gale, today‘s high tide had a really good push on it: white horses - the lot! We decided to tackle the wetlands first. Battling down the Lonning, the willow trees and ashes were...

"Summer Solway Estuary and Gulls flying" - a pastel sketch from my studio window. Campfield Marsh Reserve, here on the Solway, is a really nice place to visit at the end of Summer, especially its estuary element. As you may know, inland reserves can be a little quiet at this time of the...

Not a great deal happening from the hide at midday. Birds were generally quiet: a few Larks, Herons, Crows and spiralling Sparrowhawk. Then from the far Moss, a grey bird appeared coming straight towards the hide. We initially took it to be a Heron but it soon resolved itself to be a Hen Harrier...

Early June - Summer has officially arrived … monsoons of rain; tornados of wind; flooding that would frighten even Noah; caravans and tents being swept away; agricultural shows being flattened; seaside promenades under three feet of water and lashed by waves. Hello! but we don’t mind, we’re...

. Not much fear of that. We’re back into winter gear: Wellington boots; padded jackets … the whole kahuna! A fine warm March: temperatures up in the 20’s; water levels falling by the minute; talk of hosepipe bans and compulsory metering! I remember a severe drought a few years...

Campfield Marsh at high tide. 11 4 12 Spring is a restless time: weather pulling all kinds of tricks; counting the cost of last winter; assessing the possibilities of the coming Summer; old visitors still lingering on; new arrivals coming unexpectedly - and that’s just the birds … you...

'Doing the Campfield walk, Hey!' The Great White Egret arrived at Campfield on 1 st November 2011, just in time for the Guy Fawkes celebrations. We began to wonder how long this rare vagrant would stay - and lo and behold, miracle of miracles, it spent Christmas with us. People travelled from...

A noticeable feature of the last two weeks has been the large flocks of Rooks and Jackdaws (up to 80), assembling on Campfield saltmarsh, around the high tide - obviously intent on the debris, both vegetable and animal, left by the recent high tides. Our local Crows, mixing amongst them, strutting...

An early November Photo Diary Area round Saltmarsh Pool where the Great White Egret has installed itself 1st November A beautiful sunny windless day with first record of Great White Egret seen on the Reserve at Saltmarsh Pool. 2nd November Cool and breezy. 10.45 - 12.00 am, Great White...

18th - 31st AUGUST Looking inland across the 'sands' towards Campfield Marsh 18th August Cold wind from the west today. Wader numbers are starting to build up: predominently Oystercatcher with small numbers of Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin. Whimbrel could be heard calling...

Campfield Saltmarsh - 12th May 2011 Oh well! Not much luck today. It will be thin pickings for the cubs tonight. I reckon I'll be in trouble with the vixen. Hold on! Just a minute! A nice bit of saltmarsh lamb would go down quite nicely with the cubs - make a change...

It's official. It was the hottest April ever, so the pundits say! Tell us something we don't know! The garden was on hold and the rivers were drying up. I thought, "I'll fix this! I'll put the recently purchased garden gazebo up!" The idea worked! As I opened the big cardboard...

A photo diary - early March 2011 A calm early March day on the estuary 1st March An influx of finches to the area was noted today Female Brambling Lesser Redpoll and Siskin (both males) feeding on nearby garden niger seed 2nd March Goldfinch in splendid Spring plumage...

1st September Adult fox hunting amongst recently topped rushes along the edge of 1st Meadow Pool. Seen from screen 4th September Common Darter on track Swallows were hawking everywhere today: over the pools, meadows and the 'sands'. Bird of prey glimpsed flying away...

It was pretty hot; a sort of lethargic day really; had an end-of-summer feel to it – but Up! Up! – let us a voyage take. Why sit we here at ease? … so off to the Reserve we went. First stop, just this side of the 1st Pool. The Sparrowhawk saw us at the same time we saw it - in the...