Thursday 18 May 2017

A tale of two waders ... Spotted Sandpiper at Buttermere ... Golden Plover at Geltsdale ...

Another bird-filled week with good skua movement on the Solway on Tuesday ... the winds brought two Bonxies , a few Arctics and more than ten Pomarine Skuas with lovely 'spoons' ... rather a low point was failing to find Wood Warblers in NY47 and NY57 ... a singing Common Crossbill and displaying Tree Pipits helped to mitigate ...

A visit to Buttermere this morning to see the summer plumage Spotted Sandpiper for its sixth day ... a striking looking bird with colourful bill and extravagant spots made the Common Sandpipers look quite drab ...





... initially resting behind the shore line and visible only through two wire mesh fences ... then walked down to the water's edge and was a little more active for a time ...



... a superb looking bird in the striking setting of Buttermere ... and in sunshine !

Yesterday ... and back in the Geltsdale uplands ... from the exotic to ... well, the more familiar but nonetheless wonderful Golden Plover with its haunting calls and its attachment to those wild places ...


This sentinel male was giving one of the alarm calls typical of this time in the season ... as were several other birds on the plateau ...









The sonogram interestingly shows a number of overtones and the rise in pitch of this particular call ...


With all the Golden Plovers in this area no longer singing, the behaviour  of birds at Nenthead in recent days was contrastingly held back ... they were still singing and performing display flights ... and with Ring Ouzels present in good numbers there ... Black Grouse and Short-eared Owls ... and a Woodcock sat out in the open in a small field ... quite a birdfest !








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