A morning stroll round Thacka

It was snowing lightly when I set out but soon cleared as I made my way along the hawthorns by the railway. There was a lot about and a good mix too, unfortunatly the light was poor and so are the pics. The small bird is a Yellowhammer,  also a Heron , Common Gull , and Mistle Thrush.  other birds were, Goldfinch 20 or so, 1 Bullfinch  male, Brambling, Kestrel , Greenfinch, Fieldfare, Moorhen 2. On the bottom flood or sheet ice as it is there was a mixed flock of gulls, Common and Black-Headed.
    It was still very icy under foot and actually went down at one point, camera making contact with the ground via its lenshood first. fortunately no damage to either of us.

Winter Wonderland

Went over to Keswick on Buisness and managed to include a bit of birding and sightseeing. It was a brilliant day sun all day making the snow look fantastic on the Mountains, Central Gully on Great End will be in prime condition for a snow and ice climb.
There was quite a few Robbins down by the lake with a few feathers flying over territoriall disputes. also quite a few birds are becoming more tame as the shortage of food gets worse.
Derwentwater was froze solid from end to end , and reminded me of 78 when a big party of us was skating all over it. There was a mix bag of gulls and Mallard by the boat landings , all waiting expectanly for food from any passing local or tourist that was willing to feed them.

Ice Ice Ice

Beautiful this morning, lots of frost and sunshine to go with it . So armed with just the camera and the Westies for company I headed off up to Thacka. I had a look at the settling pond first where there was about a dozen Mallard, and one Bullfinch in the trees close by. Next I made my way up to the flood , as can be seen only a bewildered group of gulls and a few Lapwings stood on the ice. The gulls being mainly Black-headed with a few Common amongst them. Three Goldfinch flew over and there was a few Blackbirds in the Hawthorns along with one or two Chaffinch.

Water, Water

A day at home for the Westies as Mrs W and my self made our way down to Leighton Moss. The sun shone the whole day but there was a thin North wind blowing. We parked first in the lay-by near the causeway and headed for the public hide watching the grit trays on the way there and also on the return but no sign of Beardies, they could be heard occasionally pinging in the reeds but no sighting.

There was still water on the causeway and there was still signs it had flooded the hide a week ago. I have never seen so much water in the Leighton area. From the hide a good mix of duck, large flock of Greylag, one Cormorant and a good scattering of Coot, 2 Buzzard circling at a distance , and that was about it. Next we made our way to the centre for a warming cup of coffee before checking the feeders and Lilians hide. as can be seen from the pics the was a good mix of birds on the feeders as well as the usual scavengers below the feeders eg. Mallard, Pheasant, and 2 not so welcome guests grey squirrels.

Next we made our way over to the marsh hides , too much water for anything significant, and anything that was there was now struggling against a strengthening wind coming straight out of the North. We didn't stay too long before making our way back to the centre for warming soup and hot chocolate. We drove home to great sunsets and clear Sky's , frost tomorrow!!!.

Out & about

Out and about yesterday during a brief lull in the wicked weather, Photo, Derwentwater in one of its quieter moments, I had a look at the Thacka flood first thing, slightly more active than of late but not overwhelmingly so . I could only find one Snipe , there was c. 130 Lapwing 20 or so Black-headed gulls and 8 Common gulls. Needed to be well wrapped up today as the was an icy feel to the wind so didn't hang around too much. There is now a dusting of snow on the lakeland fells and also the Pennines. Not the best of weather for travelling any distance, plus Mrs W has been going to work in the car due to all the wet weather and dark mornings. Roll on Spring.

Thacka flood, that's a joke its more like a small lake now and in the fields all around there are similar floods. but this is nothing compared to Keswick and the West of the county. I think everyone has by now seen the devastation around Cockermouth and Workington its heart breaking to see it .
           As regards birding at the flood, well there is very little to see, a lot of the usual stuff has either moved to the far side of the flood or other areas altogeather. With all this water lieing around they have a lot of places to choose from.  The pics are of the flood and Bowmans carrage horses.

The Westies and Thacka flood

 As you can see this is the Westies having fun, tug-o-war over a plastic container. Second picture Kyfer wins, Third picture Misty saying please give it to me. She is 10 month old now and had her first trim, not a full cut as we just wanted her to get used to the noise of the machines. We took her up to Newton Rigg college where it gives the trainee groomers the chance to work on different breeds of dog. She has also had her first season , and wasn't that fun (not) keeping the pair of them apart. If we breed them it won't be till her third season.

 Now back to birding , up at the flood this morning pretty quiet really , 1 Kestrel, a few Black-headed gulls on the water, plus 100 Lapwings and another 150 flying over, and 7 Snipe maybe more hidden, its always a pleasure to watch them preening and feeding especially when the sun is shinning as it did this morning for a while.

       Unfortunatly it was looking very black towards the west and the Westies and I got home just before the the heavy rain set in for the rest of the day.