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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...

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...

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...

Typical senario here over the last few weeks: sunshine and snow clouds! Shelduck are starting to put in an appearance on the mudflats - 22nd February SongThrush and Great Spotted Woodpecker are becoming regular visitors to the Hamlet gardens - 22nd February. Song Thrush with a liking...

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'...

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...

Saturday morning, an enjoyable time of the week, a late breakfast had just been consumed and I was into my second cup of Douwe Egberts whilst casually scanning the estuary in front of me with my bins here at Campfield. Suddenly crashing into view came, what could only be described as ‘a regiment...

This Spring and early Summer have been a real mixed bag - especially this last week! One minute, glorious sunshine and the next torrential rain and bitter winds. One hardly knows what to do! Have turned into a softie really - should have taken it easier on the cupcakes, blue icing and party sized Eton...

'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...

Spring has definitely come at Campfield: the March sunlight today glowing on the ‘sands’ of the Solway … and here in front of North Plain on the new outfall creek that has formed this last winter, there was a party of pre-breeding Shelduck, cavorting and disporting themselves - their...

PHOTODIARY - end of November 2011 Winter evening after a stormy day, Solway Estuary 24th November. A midday high tide with a strong gusty wind. At 11.30pm flocks of Oystercatcher, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard and Shoveler with 15 Pintail started to fly west along the, by now, flooding marsh. At...

15th - 23rd November 2011 15th November Cold light easterly wind with misty sunshine. As the tide came in a group of 13 Shoveler crossed the channel in front of the hamlet. A flock of Dunlin landed on the sandbar on the other side. A Reed Bunting showed up on the marsh edge hawthorn bushes and...

Two Woodcock - part of a large number visiting Campfield during the cold spell at the beginning of the year. The gregarious and colourful Wigeon that make the winter reserve so pleasurable. Whoopers, our glorious winter visitors. One of the Lonning’s Sedge Warblers declares his...

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...

Criffel and the Solway after the Storm, 17th October. 15th October A very warm misty morning with a rosy dawn. Small parties Barnacles could be seen and heard flying west most of the morning. Lots of Gulls out on the channel with a single Whooper on the tideline. Small party of Barnacles...

Skein of Pinks at sunset 1st October Weather is still warm and sunny. Speckled Woods seen mating today and a flock of about 80 Pinks flew in from the across the saltmarsh and headed off in a south-easterly direction. Speckled Woods mating. Female (the larger one) seems to have laid an egg...

September 2011 Photo Diary The evocative 'pink pink' was first heard on the 15th, over the Reserve ... returning skeins of Pinkfeet were subsequently seen during the following days. 1st September Rained early but became very warm as sun came out in the afternoon. The saltmarsh...

Oh dear! it’s got round to August again. The birds down the Lonning have generally fallen silent, busy raising and feeding their young - but if one walks along quickly and quietly, you can run across small parties of young in the hedges waiting to be fed by their industrious parents: Willow Warblers...

The weather was really warming up; a strongish dry southeaster was blowing across the estuary; hardly a cloud in the sky. I said to Judith, "Just the day for the outer saltmarsh and the estuary sands. Let's see what exotica presents itself!" Adventure was in the air and the Gods seemed...

"Oh to be at 'Campfield' now that April's here" - a pastel-style digital painting by John Rogers Already the mighty pendulum, that governs all life on this planet, is well on its way. The Vernal Equinox is nearly a month past but the bird world would have been stirring even before...

Barnacles flighting at dusk, Campfield Marsh Reserve - a digital oil-style painting by John Rogers This winter, as we will all know, started very early with the big freeze-up, snow and ice - the whole deal! The country was in crisis. We thought, "here we are in the middle of an Artic winter,...

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...

The last few days have been very warm and windless; rain at nights creating high humidity and the tides have entered into a high phase. One could feel a sense of the pulse of the estuary stepping up - it would culminate at the weekend with a particularly high one. Being Saturday, of course, this would...