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Cattle grazing the buttercup meadows. Rain overnight started off the day in sombre mood but by lunchtime the fresh wind had veered from slightly north of West to the SW, with the incoming tide. The clouds started to disperse, producing a very warm bright afternoon! The meadows on the Reserve, with...

8th June Little rabbit snatching a quick supper. Young Crows looking very attentive. Begging for food . . . has its rewards! Wren catching the last rays of the sun. Barn Owl hunting across the saltmarsh. It must have spotted something! A thundery...

May blossom and gorse in bloom - Campfield Marsh. Spring was late this year – universally accepted, we think. We might add that here at Campfield, we are used to late Springs! We swear to you folks that the Ash trees at the top end of the Lonning only started to come into leaf 10 days ago! ...

Lapwing fledglings after the storm. There had been 24 hours of really quite heavy rain. This was not good news at this time of the year as we knew Lapwing had been breeding in the wet meadows along the Lonning and Snipe in the wetter areas of the Reserve. Let's face it – their nests are...

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 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...

Robin on Campfield Lonning.

As the tide was coming in at 15.20 a flock of about 500 Barnacles dropped in onto the mudflats in front of West Common. They were probably seeking shelter from the cold strong southerly wind, as they settled down in the lee of the saltmarsh. As the tide pushed them in further, some came up onto the marsh...

Estimated about 200 geese in the flock

A small group of Barnacles flew onto the saltmarsh from a SW direction at 13.00 pm. They grazed for a while along the edge of the marsh and then flew off west again.

These two became restless due the the activity of nearby Merlin and Hen Harrier and took off for a fly around. They were part of the mixed flock of Pinkfeet and Barnacles grazing on the wetland pastures at North Plain Farm.

Hi Steve, Nice sighting, that one! You’ve been really lucky. We have never actually seen one on the Farm, in all the time it has been a Reserve - although I don’t know if Norman(RSPB Cumbria Coastal Reserves Manager) or Dave(RSPB Campfield Marsh Reserve Manager) have ever seen any? ...

A digital oil-style painting of Barnacles coming in at dusk over the Meadow Pools, with Skiddaw in the distance - by John Rogers

An oil-style painting in Artrage/Photoshop showing a group of Barnacles on Campfield Marsh by John Rogers

Art sketch showing the Solway as it is today. Get yourselves up here. Its quiet, the air is clean, its a haven for tired overworked people. You know you have always wanted to start birdwatching. Its really easy. Stacks of good books on the subject. You can either dabble or you can give meaning to the...

This view is from Campfield Marsh Reserve looking north across the Solway towards Criffel