| Field Trip Reports - click title to read |
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Martindale Red Deer Rut
30th Sep 2010
11 members assembled at Dale Head Farm on the morning of 30th September 2010 for the walk up the valley to see and hear the Martindale Herd of Red Deer at their rut. I had moved the date forward to the 30th because last year we went on the usual day around 9th Oct and it all seemed to be over by then.
This time as we started to scan to find deer there were lots about, we counted 106 hinds from where we parked the cars but it was strangely quiet, no activity and no stags visible. Not a good sign.
As we walked up the valley it was cold and wet and it quickly became obvious that although there were a lot of deer about, they weren't doing anything. No rut! It hadn't started yet. My fault, I should have kept to the traditional day in October. I certainly will next year.
We walked on up the valley and continued to see lots of hinds but we only found one lone stag.
It was very cold and wet and although the day looked as if it might eventually get sunny we decided to abandon the outing for this year.
We saw a total of 209 hinds and the one stag (I think he felt outnumbered he wasn't chasing any hinds). The bird list was very low (as is usual in Martindale) at only 11 species.
I think we were all glad to get back to the warmth of the cars.
David Thomason
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Caerlaverock
11th Nov 2010
Despite forecasts of high winds and squalls, (none of which in fact affected us while there) 11 members and guests assembled to enjoy once again the many delights of the Reserve.
It is always a thrill to be almost within arm's length of truly wild Whooper Swans at feeding time when little more than a pane of glass separates viewer from viewed.
Outside, the air is often filled with the yapping calls of the thousands of Barnacle Geese from Svalbard in the High Arctic as they graze in the fields or fly in smaller groups low overhead.
There are lots of other bird species to see and hear. This time the group total was 44, last time it was 55 so there is always plenty for the visitor to fix eyes and ears on.
Yet, amid all this wealth of wildlife, it was Keswick that provided arguably the the best bird of the day. David T. had thoughtfully brought along a Waxwing, (dead but otherwise in excellent condition) which he presented to the staff who went into raptures over it and said they could use it in their educational work with school parties.
So, if YOU've never sampled this trip, why not join us next time?
Denis White
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Ken/Dee Marshes RSPB Reserve
5th Feb 2011
On the dull, drizzly morning of Saturday 5th February 4 intrepid members set off for the unusually long (for us) haul to Dumfries and Galloway to the woods and marsh of the Ken/Dee RSPB reserve. We picked another member up at Red Dial on the way so 5 of us arrived at the RSPB car park in improving weather.
We walked down the track towards the first hide with a side trip to scan for the flock of Greenland White-fronted Geese which are a feature of this reserve but they were elsewhere at the time. Walking on to the hide we saw the first Red Kite of the four that we saw that day. At the hide we watched Red Squirrel, Great Spotted Woodpecker, lots of Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Chaffinches, a Nuthatch and two Long-tailed Tits while we had our lunch but of the bird we had hoped to see, Willow Tit, there was no sign. After lunch we walked through the woods round to the far hide but very few birds were seen here so we walked back to the car park passing other birdwatchers and exchanging information with them as to what was about. At the car park Denis spotted two Reed Buntings among a large flock of House Sparrows and Chaffinches and on the way back down to the main road we saw two Red-legged Partridge on the roadside verge. The weather got worse again as we headed home and as usual it was raining hard at Keswick when we arrived.
We had a total of 35 birds for the trip plus Red Squirrel and several Roe Deer, not a huge total but a very happy and entertaining trip. Well we all enjoyed it!
David Thomason
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Swindale
7th May 2011
The forecast for the day was for a sunny start followed by rain in the afternoon. It was absolutely spot on as we had a lovely morning and were well on our way back to the car when the rain came. The sunny start meant that an extremely pleasant time was spent in Swindale; the walk round the valley was slow with many stops along the way as there were so many birds and flowers to see. Our leader, David Thomason was excellent at identifying the birds by their song before finding the birds themselves. These included Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and Linnet and many other species were seen. The highlight for me was hearing and then seeing a Peregrine Falcon carrying prey.
The wild flowers were a delight and we were able to identify over twenty species such as primrose, bugle, golden saxifrage, and crosswort.
Sadly only two members of KNHS plus David attended this outing which was extremely informative and a delightful walk into a quiet, isolated and beautiful little valley.
Val Nixon
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Leighton Moss
19th May 2011
Three enthusiastic "birders" had a very successful day at the RSPB reserve on a fine clear day. Sixty different species were seen and/or heard including Water Rail.
A flock of Black-tailed Godwits, nesting Avocets and Marsh Harriers flying over the reedbeds were among the highlights. Also, Shoveler, Shelduck, and Gadwall plus other duck species were on the ponds while Reed Bunting and Warblers were heard singing from the dense reedbeds.
Unfortunately no Bitterns or Bearded Tits were seen, but if one needs an excuse to go back again, looking for these could be it.
Val Nixon
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Clints Quarry
2nd July 2011
On a brilliantly warm Saturday, 10 members enjoyed an afternoon at Clints Quarry near Egremont amongst an amazing display of native wildflowers. Between us we managed to identify over twenty different plants but it was the total number of blooms that was both impressive and delightful. Unusual ones were the fluffy Hoary Plantain, pretty pink Centaury and elegant yellow Agrimony but the highlights were the orchids.
The ground was so strewn with Twayblades that it was hard not to step on them. There were many varied spotted and purple varieties of orchid and a few Pyramidal orchids but the focus of attention were the four or five Bee orchids that we found. Photos of some of the plants we found will be shown at the Xmas party in December.
Other interesting things we saw included grasshoppers, damselflies, a dragonfly and various butterflies including Large Skipper, Ringlets and a possible Brimstone.
The birdwatchers among us were disappointed with the scarcity of birds here; we only got four species, Wren, Blackbird, Chiffchaff and Blackcap.
Our thanks for a lovely afternoon to our leader, Val Nixon.
Mandy Redburn
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Caerlaverock
20th Nov 2008
12 members of the Society met at Caerlaverock for the visit to the WWT reserve and all had a most enjoyable day.
There were plenty of ducks at the Whooper Pond where we were in time for the 11.00am feed. There were excellent views of large numbers of colourful widgeon, plenty of tufted ducks and teal, a pair of gadwall and a 1st year male scaup - the latter needing one of the resident experts to identify. Whooper swans were actually quite scarce as the recent wet weather meant that there was still plenty of food left lying in the surrounding fields for them. Moving on to the 'Silver and Gold' hide we added a pintail to our list and our first rarity - a cackling goose, a sub species of the Lesser Canada goose, normally found in North America. It was contentedly feeding in the company of a large number of barnacle geese. Lunch at Saltcot Merse hide was enlivened by the sight of a peregrine and a number of smaller birds including redwing and greenfinch.
The list of observations grew in the early afternoon as goldcrest, long-tailed tit, goldfinch and reed bunting were seen. Finally, a fitting climax was provided at Folly Pond Hide where the second rarity - a green-winged teal was spotted amidst about a hundred ordinary teal. It also had strayed from North America and again we received valuable help in finding it. Despite the name it is a vertical white line down from the 'shoulder' that provides the distinguishing feature. There were good views here of shelduck, oystercatcher, bar tailed godwit and curlew, bringing the total on the trip to 55 species.
Roger Heckingbottom
Campfield Marsh
11th Feb 2009.
Nine members took part in the visit to Campfield Marsh on a bitterly cold day. We met one of the staff, Dave Blackledge, who immediately informed us that we should have come yesterday as he'd had a Sea Eagle on the shore for a short while, a first record of this species for the reserve. To say he was over the moon would be an understatement! Needless to say we never saw the eagle (it had gone over the Solway back into Scotland) but we did see lots of twitchers all trying to find the bird; we even had a visit from a film crew from Border TV. There's never a dull moment on our outings!
Dave explained that because of the hard frosts, all the pools on the reserve were frozen solid so all the birds that should have been there were mostly out on the estuary. He took us round the reserve anyway, but most of the time we were scanning the estuary with telescopes trying to pick out the birds he was identifying for us. We ended with a quite impressive list of species considering the freezing conditions, 43 species in all. We also saw 3 roe deer feeding on the reserve.
David Thomason
Red Hall Farm
20th June 2009
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| Just 4 members made the trip to Red Hall Farm for the summer visit suggested after our winter visit there 18 months ago. We were met by the farmer, Martin Baird, who immediately showed us an unusual set of antlers from a Roe Deer which had been shot on the farm. The deer had had two sets of antlers one behind the other, it looked very strange. |
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David Thomason
Drumburgh Moss
27th June 2009
Morag Angus from Cumbria Wildlife Trust met 7 members of the society and 3 guests at the entrance to Drumburgh Moss reserve. Drumburgh is one of 7 raised bogs on the Solway collectively known as the Solway Mosses. These bogs are of international importance for their plants and animals. She explained about the area of peat bogs or lowland raised mires which make up the bulk of the190 hectare reserve. Raised mires are formed when vegetation grows in a body of standing water over a very long period. As dead matter falls to the bottom, the lake is gradually filled up and, because there is little oxygen, the plant matter does not rot and compresses over the years to form peat. Eventually the surface vegetation rises above the original level of the lake and begins to rely almost exclusively on rainwater which is very low in nutrients.
Over 3 hours, Morag pointed out the flora and fauna and explained the management of the reserve, which included the introduction of Exmoor ponies for grazing. Birds seen and heard included sedge warbler, chiffchaff, lesser whitethroat, willow warbler, reed bunting, great spotted woodpecker, linnet, common buzzard and a cuckoo sitting in a nearby tree. The speciality butterfly for the area, large heath was seen in good numbers plus ringlet, large skipper, painted lady, meadow brown, small white and red admiral. The only positively identified dragonfly was a four-spotted chaser. Plants included sphagnum moss (of which 13 species have been identified), lousewort, bog rosemary, common sundew, oblong leaved sundew, white-beaked sedge, bog asphodel and early purple orchid. As the previous week's Cumberland News had included an article about adders which it said could be spotted at Drumburgh Moss, we were particularly pleased to get a brief view of one as it slithered into the vegetation.
Lionel Bidwell
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Flower Walk in Borrowdale
11th July 2009 (Leader: Mike Porter)
On a perfect, sunny, July morning 13 members enjoyed a masterclass in plant recognition led by Mike Porter. The group walked through the car park area of Great Wood, down through the woods on to the shores of Derwentwater as far as Broomhill Point and then up on to the lower slopes of Falcon Crag. In just about 3 hours, we were introduced to 80 species of wild flowers, grasses, ferns, sedges and rushes (full list below - Latin scientific names available on request from Editor). The wealth of knowledge imparted to the group was overwhelming. It was the perfect way to learn about the plants of the area and to pick up tips and information on plant recognition. Many common species were encountered, but it was an excellent time to be introduced to several rarities and plants special to this area. The woodland area was an ideal one to distinguish between the male and lady ferns. On the lake shore the two local rarities, the Northern Bedstraw and the Fine leaved Rush were both found. In the lower part of Great Wood, drifts of the yellow Touch-me-not Balsam (the food plant of the Netted Carpet Moth) were just coming into flower. In the final scramble through the deep bracken below Falcon Crag we were led miraculously to the minute Trailing St. John's Wort and Alpine Enchanters Nightshade. An excellent morning was appreciated by all and the leader was thanked for an inspirational excursion.
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Great Wood (Car Park area)
- Pale Sedge
- Tormentil
- Heather
- Slender St John's Wort
- Compact Rush
- Tufted Hair Grass
- Yorkshire Fog
- Hedge Woundwort
- Bracken
- Enchanters Nightshade
Woodland area below the road
- Scaly Male Fern
- Lady Fern
- Herb Bennet
- Remote Sedge
- Herb Robert
- Soft Rush
- Marsh Bedstraw
- Giant Fescue
- Wood Sedge
- Cocksfoot
- Wood Melick
- Wood Sage
- Common Rye Grass
- Bent Grass
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On shingle areas of lake shore
- Perforate St John's Wort
- Creepimg Soft Grass
- Burdock
- Birds Eye Speedwell
- Water Forget-me-not
- Red Campion
- Broad-leaved Dock
- Harebells
- Knapweed
- Birds Foot Trefoil
- Viola
- Self Heal
- Marsh Ragwort
- Marsh Woundwort
- Silver Weed
- Meadow Sweet
- Valerian
- Goose Grass
- Purple Loosestrife
- Hemlock Water Dropwort
- Nipplewort
- Rose Bay Willowherb
- Great Burnett
- Smooth Lady's Mantle
- Ribwort Plantain
- Smith's Pepperwort
- Burnet Saxifrage
- Lady's Bedstraw
- Betany
- Lesser Stichwort
- Eye Bright
- Sneezewort
- Northern Bedstraw
- Fine Leaved Rush
- Juncus tenuis
- Angelica
- Yarrow
- Broom
- Red Leg
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Slopes below Falcon Crag
- Trailing St John's Wort
- Alpine Enchanters Nightshade
- Wood False Brome
- Mouseear Hawkweed
- Catsear
- Wild Thyme
- Heath Speedwell
- Sweet Vernal Grass
- Wood Dock
- Wood Fescue
South End of Great Wood
below the road
- Touch-me-not Balsam
- Stinging nettles
- Common Polypody
- Figwort
- Hairy Brome
- Wall Lettuce
- Viviparious Sheep's Fescue
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Alan Smith
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