Its ' Bean' a good week for Geese

Working in north Cumbria this week and there have been plenty of geese about ,Its common to see large skeins of geese across the sky heading in any direction. On Tuesday I eventually found a large flock on the ground totalling 512 birds.509 Pink 's 2 Barnacle and 1 Tundra Bean Goose a great find. Totals for the week were 4000, Pinks ,1 Bean ,20 Canada , 45 Barnacle , 10 Greylags and 12 Brents .
 Also this week  watched 3 Peregrines displaying around some Pylons there were 2 males and a female the first male was seen to drop something to the ground , and after some commotion we eventually found a dead Golden Plover with the back of its neck taken out..
  Along the hedgerows many Tree Sparrows , Yellowhammer , Reed Buntings, Redwings ,Fieldfare and Robins.

Duddon Moss

Not a good week to be on the Cumbrian coast with a stiff NW /W  9 blowing at ya most of the time , even so the snow capped peaks of the southern fells and the calls of pinks continually overhead make you feel very lucky to be  out in the elements,
   Very brief views of Red kite , Gos and Marsh harrier and the ever present Buzzard to keep me company. Large flocks of duck Male Pintail and male Eider together are breath taking. The numbers of Curlew , Redshank and Oystercatcher are also worth noting as when the wind blows from the west they all leave the estuaries and feed in the fields close to sea, its not uncommon to see 400 Curlew , 100 Redshanks and 200 Oycks in a large field foraging away out of the wind.
  Also sightings of Raven are becoming few and far between indicating breeding may well be at the incubating stage.??A few pairs of Stonechats have been seen this week on the moss's , also went looking for Hawfinch with no luck as yet.................................
 

Walney Island

This is the first time ive been to this  ' Cumbrian Spurn ' , the site of many rare and spectacular species over the years, but in Jan I didn't expect much. A cracking female Merlin was the first bird seen, showed very well for 20 mins or so. A flock of  100 + Twite and 40 Skylarks kept things interesting and a flock of 45 Barnacle Geese overhead was a surprise.
  A quick scan of a flock of flying waders was initially thought to be Knot but turned out to be 42 Grey Plover which landed just by the road side. Bar and Black tailed godwits with 100's of redshank , Knot , Lapwing Oystercatcher and Curlew. A quick look out to sea produced 2000 Eider , 500 Pintail ,500 Widgeon , 100 Teal , 50 Mallard a flock of 148 Brent geese ( all pale bellied) , 600 Shelduck  and a couple of great Crested Grebes........................beautiful winter birding so much colour..

Tree Sparrows

The Tree Sparrows seem very settled at the moment with lots of calling and feeding along the tall hedge next to the public footpath. Easily viewed from the track next to Hedge top Cricket pitch. There were 5 tree sparrows today and 5 Reed Bunting. Jay ,Bullfinch and greenfinch also today....

Jack Snipe

The bird of the day was a Jack Snipe flushed from the pools at the back of fly flats, Dipper , Tufted Duck , Great Spot ,Red grouse , Goldeneye and Goosander also today , 50 Pinkfeet very low over the house at dusk

New Year...........

No birding on the first but managed 42 species today, which aint bad,, Great Northern Diver , Tree Sparrows, Nuthatch ,Mute Swan ,Golden Plover , Lapwing and 5 thrushes..............