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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...

'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...

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...

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...

'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...

Whoopers taking off from the hide wetlands. Since Christmas here on the Solway, and by implication, our very own Campfield Marsh, the weather has been very wet and windy. But, surprisingly, in the last few days it has been calm and windless - really rather pleasant. There has been a high tide...

Barnacles are a speciality of the Solway. This group were on the Cardurnock pastures. Oystercatchers battling with the tail-end of Hurricane Katia. A typical Solway farm here on Campfield Marsh Summer Solway and Criffel from Campfield Marsh. Barnacles on the saltings of the R...

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...

The pools and wetlands are well flooded and wildfowl numbers are now building up. Today, in the region of 1000 Barnacles and 2000 Pinkfeet were moving about the pastures and meadows of North Plain, Biglands and Rogersceugh farms. Wigeon, Teal and Pintail numbers are also increasing with early morning...

North Plain Farm Large flocks of redwing sighted on the Lonning, 11.40 am. 1st Meadow Pool - Excellent display of Whoopers this morning. 48 in all together with a substantial number of wigeon and 2 Mutes. 11.50 am Janet and Alan Murray, visitors from Bingley, joined us at the screen and immediately...

Yes, the politicians have it right – we need the ‘Big Society’, but I have a slight feeling of déjà vu here! – the wheel being reinvented. Conservationists, in our case the RSPB, have been doing this for decades: looking after birds, making reserves, caring for the...