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Campfield Marsh is quite a spectacle in May with its covering of Sea Pinks - not to mention the Gorse and May blossom along the fringes. Back to farm and estuary - we continue along the coastal road round the Cardurnock Peninsula. Within a few hundred yards of North Plain farm we arrive at the lay...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Winter has already come to the Solway. The nights have now drawn in; the weather has a distinct chill feel to it; we have had a few arctic gusts already. There have been several night frosts - so the tree colours have been very good this year. The Scandanavian winter Thrushes have arrived in force...

Today was a little unusual for the Campfield Marsh Reserve: we had a substantial visitation on the estuary sands and saltmarsh, from a flock (in excess of 120) of Barnacles . In past years they have appeared beyond the Saltmarsh Pool and beyond the boundary fence, in quite good numbers but here on...

Saltmarsh and pool. We had been down onto the North Plain wetlands and the hide and had just returned to the lonning entrance - I was casually scanning with the bins towards the scrape and the boundary fence, when we beheld a great sight: a goodly flock of Barnacles were scattered over the marsh....

There was an air of hush in the front lounge. Judith was at the window table, as that week she had taken delivery of two new sets of glasses, thus new horizons for her had been opened up! She can now read the small print in her Canon camera manual and was factoring some new tricks into her camera –...

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...

"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...

We knew that there had been regular Marsh Harrier sightings over the wetlands in front of the hide, during the past week or so - so we thought we would like some! It’s a sport that can involve many hours of patient and fruitless watching but that can sometimes present the persistent birder with...

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...

The following images suggest some of the additional things your sharp eyes could see on a visit to the Campfield Marsh Reserve - from mid July to late August. BIRDS House Sparrow in a crevice of the barn wall near the car park . A juvenile Woodpecker possibly using the farm bird feeders...

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...

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...

Everything is heading north with the vernal equinox and the warm weather too. 12 Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank and a Ruff have descended on the Reserve and can be seen feeding and preening regularly on the now drying-up floodwater on the lefthand -side of North Plain lonning. On the Meadow Pools there...