Short-toed Lark ... in Northumberland ... just 12 miles from the Cumbrian border

There are no accepted records of Short-toed Lark for Cumbria ... but this week one turned up in Northumberland, a mere 12 miles from Cumbria ... Catton Moss is a place that looks just like vast tracts of Cumbria ... in fact it looks just like where I spent the day today on the Geltsdale Reserve ... and the stony track looks just like the one I walked up today ...

Northumberland has hosted a few but the last was five years ago ...

I spent almost two hours yesterday waiting for the bird to reappear where it had apparently walked off into rough grassland ... I gave up and walked down the track ... and there it was perched in the middle of the track ... I was able to attract the attention of the only other birder still present and we both watched it for about a minute before a pick-up drove by and flushed it deep into the grassland ... just time for a couple of poor phone-scope shots ...

... as I sat today looking out over the seemingly endless landscape of Geltsdale, I mused about whether there might be another one out there somewhere ...