Cumbria

Pied wagtails, male (left) and juvenile, St Bees
That black and white pattern that makes them so obvious in the supermarket car park becomes disruptive camouflage amongst pebbles and seaweed. Or would if they didn't leap around so much and kept quiet.

I've had a feeling that I've been undercounting the spadgers in the garden. This morning as I opened the curtains I guessed from the sound there were half a dozen of them. In fact there were thirty-one. No wonder the sunflower feeders are getting hammered.

I had a few plans for a day out today, none of which really worked after consulting rail timetables, tide times and the pollen count. I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and headed North, looking for inspiration and train connections along the way. In the end I decided to stay on the train, change at Barrow for the Carlisle train and go up to St. Bees. The idea being to see how far along the Cumbrian coastal line I could get, spend an hour exploring then get home at a reasonable time. (I didn't especially want to explore Whitehaven or Workington.) It also gave me the chance of a bit of reconnaissance, I've passed through St. Bees a few times on the train but had no sense of how the station relates to St. Bees Head.

We left Manchester in the pouring rain but by the time we'd arrived at Preston it was bright and sunny. I was tempted to get off at Silverdale for Leighton Moss or Millom for Hodbarrow but I'd changed my mind three times before coming out so I decided to stick to the plan. I'm glad I did, the Barrow to Carlisle line is ridiculously picturesque this time of year, like one long Kerrygold Butter advert.

Just outside Drigg, from the Carlisle train

As the train approached Silverdale I could see that the black-headed gulls and lapwings had dispersed across the pools beyond the Eric Morecambe Hide. I could also see a few avocets keeping well away from the gulls. There weren't many ducks and geese of any kind were notable by their absence.

At Arnside the tide was still high on the Kent Estuary and most of the gulls were upriver. Leaving Carnforth earlier on I'd noticed how dry the marsh was, it was the same as we approached Grange over Sands and even more so between Cark and the River Leven where there were no pools of water whatsoever on the marsh. A couple of dozen eiders loafed on the River Leven in the company of black-headed gulls and lesser black-backs. Working our way through Furness the most obvious bird life were the small parties of swallows hawking over nearly every other field. Going through towns their place would be taken by swifts.

Kirkby in Furness

The stopping train to Carlisle meanders along the Duddon Estuary to Millom then flirts with the Irish Sea coast until it becomes a proper seaside railway from Seascale. I've no idea how (or if) the houses on the seaward side of the line at Braystones and Nethertown get insurance against flooding. The landward view is of distant Lake District peaks and rolling green hills.

Windscale was a surprise as the River Ehen runs beside the track for a good half mile either side of the station, providing a long, sheltered space for loafing gulls and mute swans. A common sandpiper was a good train ride tick.

St Bees Head

I got off at St Bees and had a wander towards the seashore. The start of the path up to St Bees Head turned out to be just a quarter of an hour's walk from the station. Realistically I couldn't walk up to the Head and get back for the train but it looks doable with a bit of planning ahead with the train timetables.

St Bees seashore

I sat by the beach, which was fairly busy, and did a bit of seawatching. The conditions were calm and flat and sunny so I wasn't altogether surprised only to be seeing herring gulls and cormorants. 

A large family of pied wagtails — five youngsters and their parents — foraged in the stranded seaweed by the breakwaters. The youngsters were more than capable of finding food themselves but spent most of their time begging from their parents. A young rock pipit joined them, looking very tatty after not doing a good job of drying itself after bathing in a puddle.

Just outside Drigg

The ride back was just as pleasant. The scenery was magnificent. As the train crossed the River Mite coming into Ravensglass I spotted a great white egret feeding in the company of a little egret.

Surprise of the day was seeing the osprey again in the dead trees just after Green Road Station. It wasn't in the same tree as last time, otherwise I'd have concluded it was a model, like those plastic owls people put on rooftops to attract the pigeons.

All in all, a very agreeable day.