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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...

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...

Mixed flock of Barnacles and Pinkfeet spread out along the channel of the R. Wampool at Anthorn. Today started off with hazy sunshine after a night of frost – no wind at all! We had to go to Kirkbride, so decided to make a virtue of a necessity, namely searching for swans and geese. In this...

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...

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 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...

Whoopers on Meadow Pools at dawn - 12th January 2013 The gentle pulsing of the alarm broke into my slumbers, although I have to say, we seldom use an alarm these days – but today would be special! We had pre-planned a very early morning foray onto the Reserve here at North Plain, as we knew...

Great! The New Year had arrived . . . but I had hit the ground stumbling. Not, I have to say, from the after effects of 'bacchus' or some extreme Hogmany roistering! My only claim to fame in that respect had been watching Jools Holland's 'Hootenanny' and listening to that splendid...

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...

Campfield Workparty Christmas Barbecue 13 12 12 Judith and I both set out for the annual workparty Christmas barbecue at North Plain. The weather was dry and a thin southerly wind was blowing but with an arctic bite to it. Criffell and the distant Lakeland fells were a pastel blue grey; their bases...

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...

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...

Barnacles on Campfield Marsh at Scargavel Point - 26 10 12 Barnacles appear to have arrived in force on the Solway this year - total numbers will emerge later - but the noteable feature for us at Campfield is the arrival, 4 days running, of a small flock prospecting the saltmarsh. We are starting...

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 –...