Cumbria

Slavonian grebe, Workington

It was a bright, sunny morning as I checked the train times and saw that today it was the 0948 that was cancelled so I was OK for getting the 1022 into Manchester for getting an old man's explorer ticket and nipping up to Workington to see if the Slavonian grebe was still fishing in the harbour.

The train to Barrow was running just fine. The woodpigeons were missing from most of Lancashire and nowhere was there more than half a dozen. There were some good-sized flocks of rooks and jackdaws in a few of the fields.

It was fairly quiet on the coastal pools at Leighton Moss, a dozen or so greylags grazed by the sides, a few dozen each of teal and black-tailed godwits loafed on islands, a few black-headed gulls flew about and a couple of shelducks dabbled in the far pool.

Kents Bank from the train

The salt marshes of Cumbria were busy with carrion crows, little egrets, mallards and black-headed gulls and pairs of shelduck were dotted about at irregular intervals. A small flock of lapwings loafed by the Kent at Meathop and flocks of linnets skittered about between Grange-over-Sands and Kents Bank. Inland Furness was a bit empty, the early Autumn flocks of gulls having moved on. The Leven Estuary looked quiet at first, just a few curlews and redshanks with greylags on the marsh, but as we crossed I could see more redshanks with oystercatchers and mute swans by the opposite bank. The recent rains had left many fields, brooks and drains completely flooded and these waters were studiously ignored by ducks, gulls and waders. The further we went the gloomier it became and it was raining by Barrow.

Foxfield from the train

Chugging up the Furness coast from Barrow in the pouring rain there were more flooded fields, some of which attracted herring gulls and one near Askam had a flock of curlews working it over. There were more woodpigeons in the trackside bushes along here than I saw elsewhere all day. Flocks of dunlin and redshanks fidgeted on the mudbanks of the Duddon by Kirkby-in-Furness and two redhead goosanders swam along a channel by the track.

As we headed out of Millom for the Irish Sea coast we passed occasional carrion crows, black-headed gulls or herring gulls. It wasn't until we passed Whitbeck there were crowds scenes, with fifty-odd herring gulls and more than a hundred starlings in one of the fields. We passed flocks of Herdwick sheep with their "Are you looking at me, chum?" faces accompanied by rooks and jackdaws. 

As we crossed the river Esk the train disturbed half a dozen wigeon and a family of red-breasted mergansers. I expected to see more ducks on the river by Ravenglass Station and was sadly mistaken. I had more luck at Sellafield where half a dozen mallards dozed with a mute swan and a kestrel hovered over the rough on the bankside. 

The Irish Sea coast was bleak and beautiful in the gloom and made me wonder the more that anyone should have beachside cottages at Braystones and Nethertown. Black-headed gulls and herring gulls loafed, carrion crows and the occasional oystercatcher fossicked about the rocks and a couple of cormorants fished near shore. A flock of nearly fifty black-headed gulls loafed by the harbour at Parton. The flock at Harrington was almost as big, the numbers were made up by herring gulls. 

Slavonian grebe, Workington

It was a cold, wet, windy day in Workington. Mercifully it's only five minutes' walk from the station to the harbour. The tide was lowish and a couple of redshanks and a mute swan mudlarked about the boats. I wondered how far I'd have to be walking down the road in this weather when the Slavonian grebe saw me and swam over, affording absolutely cracking views of a bird I generally see as an object on the water a quarter of a mile away. It was a very nice-looking bird and I was only sorry I didn't have a tin of anchovies on me to say thank you.

Slavonian grebe, Workington

Slavonian grebe, Workington

The weather didn't invite further exploration of the harbour, twilight had fallen an hour before sunset, so I sloped off back to the station for a cup of tea.

Walking back to the station from Workington Harbour 

On the way back I had my nose pressed against the window staring out into the gathering gloom, telling myself I was looking for sea owls but catching sight of black-headed gulls and herring gulls setting off to roost. It was almost dark as we passed back over the river Esk with its thirty-odd roosting black-headed gulls and the flock of a couple of dozen dozing wigeon which looked like so many dark blobs with white flashes by their sides.

Whitehaven from the train.
The romance of the single track railway fades a bit when you're stuck at a signal for quarter of an hour waiting for the late-running northbound train to get out of the way.

As always, Lancaster was the weak link on the journey home, made slightly worse by our arriving nearly quarter of an hour late. This meant I missed the connection at Preston that would have connected with either the local train home or my bus so I got home from Cumbria via Flixton. Like you do.

Workington Harbour