Zim Girl's 5th Big Year 2022

[Zim Girl]

Across from our holiday cottage there was a Starling family being fed regularly.  I couldn't get the adult (too quick), but I like the youngsters lined up waiting.

 

88.  Common Starling

Deanscales  -  18/05/22

 

[Zim Girl]

An obvious place for some easy birds at this time of year in West Cumbria is at St Bees.  It has an annual breeding colony of Guillemots and others.

Not quite the close up views we had at Mull last year but never mind.

 

89.  Northern Fulmar

St Bees Head  -  19/05/22

 

 

[Zim Girl]

90.  Common Guillemot

 

St Bees Head  -  19/05/22

 

[Zim Girl]

We spent ages looking through the mass of Guillemots for any Razorbills and didn't think we were going to find any but then I spotted a lonely soul on a far away rock.

 

91.  Razorbill

St Bees Head  -  19/05/22

 

[Zim Girl]

Plenty of these on the walk back from the cliffs.

 

92.  Western Jackdaw

St Bees Head  -  19/05/22

 

[Zim Girl]

On our way home we stopped off at RSPB Hodbarrow at Millom.  We have never been there before but while we were away there was a post of an Eider on the Cumbria Birding FB page so we thought we would see if we could find one.  Well we needn't have worried, they actually breed here and there are over 200 birds according to the daily numbers board put up by the RSPB.  This reserve sits on the Duddon estuary and has a freshwater lagoon and large grassland/scrub area that used to be the site of an old iron mine.  There is a hide in front of an island which hosts nesting Common, Sandwich and Little Terns, so next two lifers coming up.  

 

93.  Sandwich Tern

RSPB Hodbarrow  -  20/05/22

 

[Zim Girl]

The Little Terns were really difficult to find but luckily there was an RSPB chap in the hide counting birds so when he had finished we asked him.  The terns all nest in their own separate areas and the little ones are way over to the right of the island. Even through binos I struggled to see them amongst the shingle but every so often small groups would fly up and become more obvious.

 

94.  Little Tern

RSPB Hodbarrow  -  20/05/22

 

[Zim Girl]

So now the Eiders.  We were blown away with the numbers of birds.  If you remember, we only saw them for the very first time a few weeks ago at Morecambe Bay and at a long way off.  So we really enjoyed this!  There were babies too .

 

No count.  Common Eider

 

 

 

RSPB Hodbarrow  -  20/05/22

 

 

[Zim Girl]

On the way back down the motorway we stopped off at Leighton Moss (well it would be rude not to!).

Crossing the car park Adrian asked me what I wanted, I said jokingly, 'oh, Bullfinch and Bittern would be good'.  I really must do this more often.

 

95.  Eurasian Bullfinch

RSPB Leighton Moss  -  20/05/22

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Now we knew that there had been a lot of Bittern activity lately with lots of feeding flights across the reserve but we really didn't expect to see one.  I have only ever seen one once a few years ago.  We settled into one of the hides and waited.  There was lots of Marsh Harrier activity to keep us interested and then someone shouted 'Bittern'.  We hadn't seen it and it was flying away from us so I only got a very blurry tail end shot.  However, about 15 mins later Adrian spotted one flying up from the reeds at the far end of the lake.  I actually struggled to see it at first despite his frantic attempts to get me in the right place, but then I saw it and snapped away.  Still a blurry picture but not as bad as the first.

 

96.  Eurasian Bittern

RSPB Leighton Moss  -  20/05/22

 

[Zim Girl]

To finish for now. There were loads of Swifts flying around the reserve, not a hope in hell of following one and focussing on it with my camera, so in the end I cheated a bit and just took lots of pictures of the sky directly in front of me in the hope that one would fly by just at the right time.  After deleting dozens of blank sky pictures I had this.  Not a lifer but the first time I have it on BY.

 

97.  Common Swift

RSPB Leighton Moss  -  20/05/22

 

 

 

[TonyQ]

That was a very productive trip with many fine birds and lifers as well.

The eiders are lovely, and you did well to get the Bittern (I have never seen one).

Your Swift photo isn’t cheating, it is using imaginative technique. It doesn’t matter about those that don’t come out as they are easily deleted!

[Galana]

Everything that @TonyQhas said plus a 'well done' on the Eiders. Given the numbers we have they just HAD to be there 40 miles east as we see St.Bees from our house.

[xelas]

Great trip, nice additions to BY. If there is a competition about Blue Sky, I have a couple thousand photos for it .

[Zim Girl]

18 hours ago, Galana said:

Everything that @TonyQhas said plus a 'well done' on the Eiders. Given the numbers we have they just HAD to be there 40 miles east as we see St.Bees from our house.

We did wave at the IOM from St Bees, you may have just missed us 

[Zim Girl]

19 hours ago, TonyQ said:

That was a very productive trip with many fine birds and lifers as well.

The eiders are lovely, and you did well to get the Bittern (I have never seen one).

Your Swift photo isn’t cheating, it is using imaginative technique. It doesn’t matter about those that don’t come out as they are easily deleted!

Thank you Tony.  Everyone at LM trying to get the Bitterns at the moment.  But it is really hit and miss, some people are spending hours on end waiting in a hide and seeing nothing and others are getting some very nice flight pictures.  We were lucky to get two sightings from the same hide in a fairly short space of time.

[Towlersonsafari]

eider ducks-or Frankie Howard birds- are my favourite duck @Zim girl- looks like a splendid trip!

[michael-ibk]

Congratulations on your lifers Angie, and always great to see a Bittern, fantastic! But I really love the seabirds most, those Eiders are just stunning!

[Zim Girl]

27 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

Congratulations on your lifers Angie, and always great to see a Bittern, fantastic! But I really love the seabirds most, those Eiders are just stunning!

I know, the Eiders were amazing, shame the day was a bit gloomy but now we know where to find them we will get back there.

[Galana]

5 hours ago, Zim Girl said:

We did wave at the IOM from St Bees, you may have just missed us 

 

Was that you? I did wave back but lost my foothold.

[Zim Girl]

We had an early morning run up through the Trough of Bowland over the bank holiday, and found three of the four birds I was missing from this area.

 

98.  Red-legged Partridge

Forest of Bowland  -  02/06/22

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

We saw two adult Curlews in the field with youngsters quite close to the road.  We stopped the car but the adults were definitely not happy.  One started doing the broken wing routine in the road in front of us and the other was flying low around us.  We didn't want to stress them out any more so I took a quick photo of the flying one from the car and we carried on.

 

99.  Eurasian Curlew

Forest of Bowland  -  02/06/22

 

[Zim Girl]

I am going out of order for my 100th bird.  

This is a bird we have trying to find for the last five years since starting BY.  We got a brief glimpse of one flying, over Christmas last year but now I have finally got a picture .

 

There are never any sightings listed for this bird on any of the birding groups we follow in Lancashire or Cumbria and we know of only two areas where they might be found.  We have heard them on occasion in both areas and luckily they are regular walking spots for us so we have the chance to search for them quite often.  

 

So, five years of searching later and finally we found it.  We heard it first and we were scanning the trees and then we saw it land on a branch, result!!

 

100.  European Green Woodpecker

 

Newbiggin Crags, Lancs/Cumbria border  -  21/05/22

 

[Zim Girl]

Back to my last bird from Bowland.

There are several signed conservation areas along the road through the Trough of Bowland.  One area is where Sand Martins are now nesting in part of the natural river bank.  We could see them flying around so stopped in front of the nesting site and took this photo from the car so not to disturb them going in and out of the holes in the bank.

 

101.  Sand Martin

Forest of Bowland  -  02/06/22

 

[Dave Williams]

I forgot we were in St Bees last year but although we waved at Fred too we got no return acknowledgement either. Must not have had his 'bins to hand that day.

Great sighting getting the Bittern..very envious!