Lake District 26-28 June 10

With the girls in London myself and Patricia went to the Lake District for a couple of days.

Although not a birding weekend, a walk from Grasmere to Easdale Tarn on the Sunday provided some noteworthly birds including Peregrine, Raven, Wheatear and Whinchat on the fells and Spotted Flycatcher in the woodland.

Rydal water also provided Garden Warbler. Some images from the weekend:

Lake Derwent Water:

Rydal Water:

Mute Swan on Rydal Water:

Easdale Tarn:

20 June 10 Endrick Mouth

A Caspian Tern had been reported off Ring Point on 2 separate occasions the previous day and despite no news this morning I thought it might still be worth a go. In anycase it was another stunning summers day and Loch Lomond was bound to be nice. Indeed that's what I told Rachel in order to encourage her along. The idea of boredom at Loch Lomond only marginally eclipsed extreme boredom sat in the house.

Interestingly, there were no birders present for what was after all a very good bird. In the three quarters of an hour early afternoon that I spent looking, the time it took Rachel to become extremely bored again, there was absolutely no sign at all. A good view of a  fishing Osprey provided some compensation.

Other birds present included Shelduck, Common Sandpiper and lots of Canada Geese. The woodland held Spotted Flycatcher and Blackcap.

19 June 10 Cathkin

A dry bright morning but with a light northerly breeze making it quite cool.

The trees are now in full leaf and the grassland is very lush as we move well into the summer period. The walk down towards the dump produced singing Blackcap, Whitethroat and Willow Warbler.

It was generally very quite but several Swifts & House Martins were hawking over both the braes and Windlaw Marsh. The latter area also held several Reed Buntings, including several birds carrying food:

Sedge Warblers were also present:

Whitethroats were still in full song:

Coolpix P6000

I have been trying to upgrade the camera for some weeks now and yesterday I acquired a 2nd hand Nikon Coolpix P6000.

I tried it out for the first time today. Here are some shots from the garden:

Looking promising...................................!

05 June 10 Balmaha

I dropped Rachel at a cheerleading competition at the Kelvin Hall at 8:30 am and c45 mins later I was at Balmaha. This is an area I don't really know and my idea was to do somewhere called Sallochy Woods. I pulled in at the side of the road just after Balmaha village at a likely site. This apparently wasn't Sallochy but it was mature oak woodland nonetheless.

I walked up the hill into the wood and immediately happened upon a Fallow Deer. I assumed it would run off, but instead it continued to feed no more than 50 yards away:

2 Garden Warblers were in full song and after a short wait, one was seen well briefly. Wood Warblers were singing and in the 4 hours I was in the wood I saw several very well.

One particular area held at least 4 Spotted Flycatcher and they were frequently calling from treetops. I spent most of my time in the wood trying to photograph them, unfortunately with limited success:

Other birds of note included Cuckoo, Tree Pipit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redpoll and Jay. A Raven was heard flying over and a Common Sandpiper heard from the adjacient Loch Lomond.

A possible Redstart was heard and a brief back end of a bird tail pumping was also glimpsed further fueling the possibility. Treecreepers were frequently seen. This one appeared to be sunning itself: