Bassenthwaite Lake and Silver Meadows, Cumbria.

My Daughter and I decided to have a ride over to Bass lake and then on to Silver Meadows nature reserve to see what was about

First stop Bassenthwaite Lake , the photos I've taken are looking SE  or E.
   Its the only body of water in the Lake District to have lake in its name, all the others are water as in Derwentwater, or mere as in Windermere, or tarn as in Styhead Tarn, and so on. In the above photo the Helvellyn range of mountains are in the far distance.
   

looking East and the lower slopes of Dodd and the higher Skiddaw come into view, looking in this direction I was lucky enough with the aide of binoculars to find one of the Hen Harriers quartering the sedge and grass of the far side of the lake.
    Bassenthwaite lake out of interest, is approx 4 miles long and 3/4 of a mile wide and about 70 feet deep at its deepest, so a relatively shallow lake. at the Northern end of the lake there is a boat club, so a good portion of the lake is used for yachting, but a large portion of the Southern end is a nature reserve, including a large area of marsh and a small area of reed bed.

Continuous scanning of the lake didn't throw up much else, a few Mallard close in and a pair of Swans , which can just about be seen in the first photo, we did find at a great distance a large raft of juvenile Goosanders chasing shoals of fry, quite comical to watch as they would all dive on mass. The only other thing of note was a Great-crested grebe also at a distance. As regards the Ospreys, no sign , the female will have left now on her journey down to Africa, the three young are still here and the adult male. also amazing two strangers dropped in during the past week and fed the young Ospreys, one of them originated from a nest over at Kelder, and now has a mate but no nest as yet.

Close by we found some Purple-loosestrife(Lythrum salicaria) unfortunatly we are at the time of year when its past it's best.

when the west side of the lake is quiet Ospreys use this old tree as perch

And on the marsh at the Southern end of the lake is the Osprey nest, three young fledged this year great success.

Next we moved on to Silver Meadows, and again nothing of note to mention, only saw one other person walking round.

A couple of little arty type shelters have been built , and there is an Owl box inside this one but no sign of it being used, although Barn owls are seen on the reserve.

As can be seen it offers good habitat for Barn owls.

Another shelter built of Wattle and daub

Indian balsam (Impatiens grandulifera)

This plant is not a native to the UK and is very invasive, doing a lot of damage to rivers and streams , choking them with its summer growth and as a consequence also killing various forms of wild life. It has also spread through Europe , Canada, New Zealand, and the USA.

As we scanned the reserve we saw a pair of Swallows hunting insects, and this was the reason why.

Under the eves of a nearby house a nest of young Swallows.

As can be seen trying to catch the parents flying in was a challenge.

More than likely a second brood.