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A young osprey has been around the last couple of days and has been seen fishing on Tindale Tarn. As it flew over the hide screen today it set a water rail alarm calling, presumably on its nest. Lapwings have had a poor season until now with no chicks seen so far. Following the torrential downpour...

Great weather over the last week has brought with it displaying lapwing, lekking black grouse, calling curlew, chipping snipe and singing skylarks. A young peregrine falcon this morning swooped past the visitor centre, sending all the waders skyward in a frenzy of alarm calling and mobbing. Along the...

Despite some brief spells of snow over the past week or so, and some incredibly blustery and biting winds, it’s actually beginning to feel much more spring-like in any sunshine that filters through to Geltsdale. Some of the birds seem to agree too, with a reed bunting singing with abandon today...

This last week has finally seen a good covering of snow here at Geltsdale, and some plummeting temperatures to boot. Our smew sadly fled the encroaching ice on the tarn on the 17 th . However, an even rarer duck, for here, has arrived, with a pair of gadwall taking up residence (the first since 2007...

Some good birds have turned up in the last few weeks. A couple of days before Christmas a bittern was seen in flight across Tindale Tarn - actually a first for the Reserve! Unfortunately this furtive and cryptic heron has not shown itself to any observers since. Also a very handsome drake smew turned...

Yesterday we ran a small-scale bird race here in the morning, with two teams of 5 (mixed staff and local volunteers) competing to see the most number of species before lunch. Both teams concentrated on the north of the Reserve, one group choosing to stay on foot, the other also making use of a Landrover...

We’re well into December now, and it’s been quite a while since my last blog. We’ve had a very mixed bag of weather, from long periods of squally rain to beautifully still, ice-spiked days. Today, because of deep-frozen slush, we wardens had to leave our vehicles at the top of the access...

Well, it’s November already! Since my last post we’ve endured a lot more of the wet stuff and one very brief flurry of snow – though who knows what this winter holds in store for us? Birdwise, we’ve had a number of parties of whooper swans (up to 11) around the Tarn, and the duck...

After our first few sharp frosts, it’s definitely looking much more autumnal here now. On the bird front, we’ve now had the first flush of fieldfares and redwings passing through the Reserve, and the first few goldeneye have recently appeared on the Tarn. Last week there was a notable westward...