Today with the sun shining on a Bank Holiday weekend we decided to head off somewhere to avoid the crowds and so we went to a marsh area just off the coast near Seascale on Cumbrias West coast.
As we headed off the sun was shining and the Oyster catchers were in good voice, and the Grey Wagtails were flitting across the river. There were Mute Swans gliding on the water and rabbits hopping about, and no people ! As we approached half way around the marsh the air started to buzz with feeding Sand Martins, and so we set about looking for their holes in the river bank and it didn’t take long.
There must have been well over a hundred Sand Martins buzzing over the river and the bank was covered in holes dug out of the sandy soil. They didn’t appear to be nesting yet but they were certainly digging holes and checking out empty ones with three or four going into every hole looking for the perfect site for this year. We sat on the grass looking over the river and just watched flying around our heads, and hoping to get a lucky photograph.
Moving on we headed onto the beach for a short while, which was fairly quiet in terms of birdlife but it was great to see a pair of Common Blue Butterflies flitting about the sand dunes. After a short walk though we were back on the Marsh land walk across the river and no sooner had we left the beach the bird song began and we were watching the Stonechats and the Greater Whitethroats in the bushland. There were also Willow Warblers and Sedge warblers singing but they were hard to pick out preferring the deeper vegetation.
No sign of the Barn Owls today, but we were here in the midday sun so not surprising, but I plan to return at dawn so hopefully I will have more luck tomorrow Still a fantastic few hours and we hardly saw any people at all.
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