04th December Local

Well back to earth with a bump. Back to work and back to working away so no chance of any birding unless something flys past me at work for example Red Grouse.

So back home for the weekend, Saturday was spent finishing the Christmas shopping and today i managed to get out and do some local birding. Didn't find anything unusual but didn't have a bad day although the weather in Cumbria was against me as usual.

Started at low Meadows aka Soddy flash where there were a few hundred Herring Gulls and Jackdaws.

12 Stock dove with Woodpigeons and a Cracking Male Merlin sat on the hedge. 50 odd Greylag Geese and plenty of Starlings.

Within the Black Headed Gulls were 2 Adult Med Gulls.

Soddy itself had 130 Snipe flushed by 2 Herons. 55 Goosander and 35 Teal, 1 Pochard 2 Goldeneye and a few Tufties.

On the small pond the Long-tailed Duck still with a Tuftie which had me looking a bit closer for a while. A few tit species, Great, Blue, Coal and Long-tailed tit. Lesser Redpoll also. Lovely looking Bullfinch.1 Buzzard.

Female Long-tailed Duck

1st WinterTufted duck

At Workington just 1 Shag sat on beach before flying onto rocks south of Harbour and a Bonxie South.

Cold old Day with Snow on Criffel and the lakes..  But if you want to see North Cumbria at its best take a look at this brillaint blog here..... http://wildlifewarrior02.blogspot.com/