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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...

A fairly strong westerly wind was blowing with intermittent sunshine. Good flocks of waders were landing on the tideline at high tide. A mixed flock of finches has been frequenting the marsh and hamlet. Later on in the evening a Heron and a Little Egret were seen on the wetland in front of the hide....

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...

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...

Maryland farm on the very edge of the saltmarsh, overlooking the Pool - after a night of snow. The hamlet of Cardurnock - a small farming community that makes its living from grazing sheep and cattle on the wide estuary pastures. These are the little black and white Barnacle Geese that return...

A detail of Pinks flock.

Estimated about 200 geese in the flock

12 12 11 Canada Goose and three Whooper Swans taking advantage of recently cut rushes on North Plain Farm.

9 12 11 Seen working its way down the Lonning, picking at dried seed heads as it went.

Three Black-tailed Godwits on meadows in front of the hide.

Spring passage of Black-tailed Godwits have been using the wetlands in front of the hide and other pools on the Reserve since 23rd of March. Numbers have varied with a maximum of 26 having been recorded.

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.

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

There had been a slight thaw in the cold spell. Both Barnacles and Pinks were feeding amicably amongst the long grass and rushes in front of the hide,.