Hodbarrow

Little terns

Another boiling hot day being forecast I decided to go to the seaside and got myself an old man's explorer card for a trip out to Hodbarrow. The train journey to Millom was nice and straightforward, a simple ten-minute change at Barrow. 

On the approach to Silverdale the coastal pools were relatively quiet, half the black-headed gulls have moved on but there were still plenty of lapwings about. It was approaching low tide so even if there weren't crowds playing in the sand at Arnside there wouldn't have been much about. The marshes at Carnforth, Grange and by the River Leven were bone dry, the mud cracked and hard. There were a few carrion crows and woodpigeons about and by the Leven there was an adult female kestrel and a couple of juveniles sitting on the telegraph wires. There were lots of black-headed gulls on the Leven Estuary but all the eiders had moved on.

Hodbarrow

I walked down to Hodbarrow from Millom Station grateful for a brisk cooling breeze coming in from the sea. Along the path from the car park there were occasional small bird noises, usually from chiffchaffs or great tits. The whitethroats and wrens seemed to be too hot and busy to be bothered chiding me on my way.

A herd of mute swans included a dozen well-grown cygnets and it was difficult to identify which of the Canada geese or greylags were youngsters. A couple of young eiders loafed at the edge of the shingle beach and four juvenile red-breasted mergansers slept on the water nearby.

Sandwich terns

The black-headed gulls' breeding season was nearly over with only a couple of dozen full-grown youngsters left and perhaps fifty adults lingering on. The terns were still feeding young. Most of the Sandwich terns feeding on the wing with youngsters noisily chasing them before being fed. 

Common tern

The common terns and little terns nearly always fed their youngsters on the ground though a couple of little terns required a minute or two's getting slightly airborne before a reward was offered. I was amazed by the size of the sand eels some of the little terns were carrying, they were as big as their heads.

Little terns

A family of ringed plovers foraged on the shingle, a stray adult plover came to close and was chased off by one of the parents in full "I am twice as big as you!" display posture with wings arched up, tail spread and body feathers fluffed up to the max. I can't remember how long ago it was I last saw this aggression display, it wasn't this century.

Ringed plover

The tide was slowly turning out on the Duddon Estuary. I spent a while scanning the waders feeding on the sands. It was hard work but worth it: amongst the oystercatchers, redshanks and dunlin were a dozen curlews, a single whimbrel quite far out and a greenshank I only noticed when a black-headed gull spooked it into flight. There were a few godwit-like birds a bit further out but identification was impossible.

Duddon Estuary, Hodbarrow

The trip back to Barrow was pleasant, the views were splendid in the high-contrast sunshine. I didn't see the osprey on the dead trees just outside Green Road, it was flying off towards the river. Not being distracted by the osprey this time I spotted where the nest was. I couldn't see if anyone was in.

I broke the journey from Barrow to Lancaster. The plan had been to have nearly an hour's wander round the causeway at Leighton Moss but the train was late in so I did as best could with forty minutes. It was quite late so the small birds were settling down. Three great black-backs passed overhead and were loudly barracked by another one on the pool (I didn't get to see if they had young on the island opposite the hide).

I got the train to Lancaster where a couple of hours of fun with broken-down trains brought the day to a close. It had been an excellent day out regardless.

Sandwich tern