 |
Lesser black-back, Barrow Station |
I had a pile of return passes giving me the freedom of the Northern network, courtesy of a lot of late and cancelled trains, the weather forecast was for heavy rain and thunder, I thought I'd have a lazy day of it. I've been thinking for a while that it's more than high time that I did the full length of the Cumbrian Coast line, it's nearly forty years since I last did it. Once I got to Carlisle the options would be to return whence I came, use some of my travel vouchers (another reward for bad service,) to get the Transpennine to Lancaster and thence home or get the train across the tops to Leeds and thence home, depending on time and energy.
As it happened, I woke early so I set off early. I got the Barrow train from Oxford Road and off we went. The past few trips up North have been a bit quiet, it was different this time up as far as Preston as all the woodpigeons and magpies hadn't been up long and so hadn't yet disappeared out of sight into the fields.
A herd of mute swans rummaged about in the far corner of the coastal pools at Leighton Moss. Crowds of black-tailed godwits, black-headed gulls, redshanks and a host of waders I didn't have time to identify (probably more godwits and redshanks but you never know) crowded the pool nearest the Eric Morecambe Hide.
 |
River Kent, Arnside |
The tide was highish on the Kent at Arnside and the few black-headed gulls were over by the prom. It was quiet pickings on the salt marshes of Morecambe Bay. It was modestly better on the salt marshes past Cark where the swallows were already gathering on the telegraph wires. I was hoping to see eiders as we crossed the Leven but there were no ducks to be seen, only a herd of mute swans. The oystercatcher roosting on the viaduct came as no surprise, the common sandpiper did.
 |
River Leven |
The butterflies had woken up and became a feature of the journey to Carlisle with big swarms of large whites at many of the stations, taking advantage of the buddleias and valerians that are a constant feature and boding dodgy for the planters full of nasturtiums.
The lesser black-backs nesting on the factory rooftops of Ulverston had well-grown youngsters flexing their wings. I still don't know if the herring gulls and lesser black-backs at the station are actually nesting or just making a lot of noise. The gulls at Barrow were just making noise.
 |
Herring gulls, Barrow Station |
The train made its way along the Furness coastline. The rooks and jackdaws in the fields of Askam gave way to the black-headed gulls and little egrets of the Duddon. The weather was decidedly odd. Looking out from my side of the carriage, to the South and West, it was a bright Summer's day, from the other side of the carriage the sky over the hills was black as pitch. The usual Lake District weather of this type passes over in bands of rain and sun, this time it seemed to have stalled.
 |
Duddon Estuary from Kirkby-in-Furness |
A moulting flocks of about fifty eiders lurked in a creek near Kirkby. The first of the eruptions of large whites was at Foxfield Station, just over a dozen of them fluttering about the platform. The train crossed the Duddon and I craned over to look for the osprey's nest in the dead tree near the track. And there was an osprey again, even though the nest itself showed no sign of being used this season. Perhaps it's a particularly comfortable perch. I'm not complaining any, it's good to see them.
Holly blues and peacocks fluttered about Millom Station. Further along we were back into fields of rooks and jackdaws. It was a pure fluke that I noticed the snipe fly by as the train arced past the Haverigg Road. Swallows hawked over fields by Kirkstanton, swifts over the fields by Silecroft. A common hawker at Silecroft Station was the only dragonfly of the day.
 |
River Esk at Ravenglass |
A grey wagtail sat on a wire fence and watched the train go by as we passed Whitbeck. A flock of linnets skittered over a field not long after. Every station we stopped at, however briefly, had its crowd of large white butterflies. A buzzard glared at the train from a fencepost near Drigg, the herring gulls barracked from rooftops in Seascale. There were more than a hundred herring gulls loafing on the River Calder at Sellafield. A stonechat hopped up onto the fence to see the train out of the station.
 |
Braystones |
We were now hugging the Irish Sea coast. The tide was high and the scenery beautiful. Oystercatchers and redshanks roosted on the rocks away from the gulls. Another stonechat checked the train out as we approached Nethertown. Herons and little egrets fished in rock pools. A couple of dozen curlews roosted on the thin strip of beach above the tide at Nethertown as cormorants sat on rocks and held their wings to dry. As we approached St Bees the roosting black-headed gulls almost outnumbered the herring gulls.
 |
St Bees Head |
We lingered at St Bees while the drivers swapped tokens, which is how I picked out the small whites from the crowd of large whites and spotted the whitethroat hiding in a bush by the platform. We then headed inland across to Whitehaven.
We rejoined the coast at Whitehaven, herring gulls flying over the harbour and red admirals fluttering about the station. Gulls and cormorants loafed on tideline rocks. Near Lowca I noticed a Sandwich tern with a flock of black-headed gulls. A shag was dwarfed by the half a dozen cormorants it was hanging out with. Near Ghyll Grove the cormorants were outnumbered by shags. A young great black-back intimidated the herring gulls at Workington where a couple of mute swans cruised in the River Derwent.
 |
Lowca |
We passed more huge gull roosts before we got to Flimby Station which was awash with dozens of large white butterflies. Maryport Station was nearly as busy with them, I noticed a few green-veined whites and small whites in the mêlée. In between were more gulls, linnets, little egrets and stonechats.
It was inland then to Carlisle and no more crowds of birds or butterflies and the butterflies were outnumbering the birds about five to one. Until we passed a couple of hundred black-headed gulls loafing in a field halfway between Aspatria and Wigton. The balance tilted the other way with an apparent mass emergence of dozens of large whites at Wigton Station. There was a lot of waterfowl on Cardewlees Quarry as we passed, about a dozen were mallards, I have to pass on the rest.
I had about half an hour to wait for the train to Settle and Leeds. All the while herring gulls and lesser black-backs circled low over the glass canopy of the station. It's been a while since I've stopped here, it's a station that can be delightful in Summer and like a barn with the doors open in Winter. Today it was delightful.
Since Barrow I'd found that even when I wasn't seeing any birds about I'd be seeing plenty of butterflies. On the journey between Carlisle and Settle they were both very thin on the ground and I had to make do with enjoying the landscape, and there are much greater hardships than that.
 |
South of Langwathby |
The train accompanied the River Eden up the valley before parting company at Great Ormside and going over the tops. Sweeping lengths of undulating green fields were cut by becks densely lined with rowans. This sort of country you have to walk to get your birds, you'll not be seeing many from a moving vehicle and nor did I. What there were were mostly woodpigeons, carrion crows or jackdaws in ones and twos. A couple of dozen lesser black-backs loafed in a field near Little Salkeld. A buzzard sat by Langwathby Station. A pool near Culgaith had some mallards and coots on it. There were upwards of a hundred rooks in a field just outside Appleby.
 |
Looking towards Cowgill |
Appleby Station restored my faith in Westmoreland's ability to provide butterflies. It was a large white and a red admiral but I'd gone half an hour without seeing any despite the sunny weather. One of the fields South of Appleby had a couple of hundred woodpigeons in it. We passed a few more large whites along the way. Chaffinches flitted between trees at Kirkby Stephen and swifts circled overhead. We moved through the open landscape, every so often a swallow or meadow pipit would fly by, some linnets near Angerholme Gill, a stonechat watched us pass by near Howe Beck Bridge.
 |
The view from the Ribblehead Viaduct |
The view from the Ribblehead Viaduct is impressive but nowhere near as impressive as the view of the viaduct from the fells. It was good enough for me today. The train made its way down Ribblesdale and the occasional jackdaw in the fields became the occasional dozen jackdaws in the fields.
 |
The Carnforth line approaching the junction with the Carlisle line |
We joined the line from Carnforth and parted company with the Ribble North of Long Preston and headed East for the Aire. It had clouded over and we passed through a couple of light showers. When we passed Hellifield Flash I could spot a heron and some mallards, I'm sure there was much else I didn't get the chance to see. We passed a field full of rooks and jackdaws near Sugar Hill and a sandy brown buzzard floated lazily over another field as we passed near Otterburn in the rain.
We joined the Aire at Bell Busk where a kestrel was hovering over the riverbank. I was thinking that I don't often see many birds on rivers in Yorkshire when I noticed a little egret on the bank. Half a mile further along there was another. As we approached Crossflatts I was surprised to see seven fallow deer grazing on the river bank.
It was pouring down when we got to Leeds where I just managed to catch the next train to Manchester. Leeds Station is a pig for connections because the signage isn't helpful. Having established by elimination that platform 9 is over the bridge I then had to hope that the train I was running for was the Manchester train on platform 9-thingy and not one going to Selby or somewhere on platform 9-something else entirely. It wasn't desperately stressful, the train to Wigan was due ten minutes later on platform 13-something or other.
The rain stopped once we got onto the right side of the Pennines and it was sunny in Manchester. The water was pouring off the roof at Deansgate Station but it was sunny. By some sort of miracle I made the connection with the train home and arrived back feeling quite knackered and with fifty-odd species of birds on the day list.