Campfield Marsh

Incidently the 'Christmas' Robin chose to perch on the millennia old Bog Oak dug up from nearby farmland, which is now on display in Campfield car park.

by Dave Blackledge - Sites Manager, RSPB Cumbria Coast Reserves.

The picture shows the first phase of the work done with money from the DEFRA Peat Fund, set up to help rehabilitate peat bogs in England, and lock up carbon in actively growing peat.  The fields which had been reclaimed from Bowness Common for agriculture are being re-wetted once more with a series of bunds to prevent drainage of water.  Over a number of…

Every year the Work Party volunteers join with the Visitor Centre Vols in a Christmas barbecue on the last Thursday of the work party year. A strange concept perhaps to have a winter barbecue but after many years of practice we have it off to a fine art. Dave and Mhairi set up the barbecue outside and take care of the cooking (one of the many talents the Campfield staff possess), while in the Visitor Centre the rest of…

A blog for you by one of our amazing volunteers - Marjorie. I'd just like to say that we are a small team here on the Cumbria Coast and we would be lost without the dedication and help from our volunteers. It's not only their helping with practical work or in the visitor centre but their continued support with everything over the years. The good news is you too can be part of this amazing team! Fancy volunteering…

Some six months ago Mhairi MacLauchlan (RSPB Cumbria Coast Warden) installed a stamp collection bin in the Wetlands Centre on Campfield Marsh RSPB Reserve. Due to the diligence of visitors to the Reserve and particularly to Dave Smith who has been collecting stamps from the local West Coast Group for quite a while now, we were recently able to dispatch our first posting of in the region of 7,000 used stamps in aid of this…

Autumn is making itself know! That's been pretty obvious over the last week or so. Particularly the 600 strong flock of fieldfare that flew in front of the hide on Monday. We've also had redwing about as well. As Marjorie's blog at the beginning of the week mentions we have been seeing flocks of whoopers in the area which have also been roosting at Campfield. They are best seen in the morning coming out…

On a very misty morning the Thursday work party set about cutting back the gorse to improve the view at the lay-by east of the reserve entrance. The gorse bushes all along the marsh were laced with spiders’ webs threaded with beads of moisture. 

The mist was so thick that we couldn’t see the shore where waders roost at high tide, but suddenly we heard the call of whooper swans and six of them emerged from the…

At this time of year, the thoughts of the Thursday work party volunteers turn to gorse; more particularly to the coppicing and cutting back of this prickly shrub. With about four kilometres of gorse along the shoreline area of Campfield Marsh reserve, once the nesting season is well over there’s always some section that needs cutting back to produce the dense bushes that birds such as linnets like to nest in.

Although some are passage migrants their "wink" "wink" raises the excitement of birdwatching a notch or two!