We’re well into December now, and it’s been quite a while since my last blog. We’ve had a very mixed bag of weather, from long periods of squally rain to beautifully still, ice-spiked days. Today, because of deep-frozen slush, we wardens had to leave our vehicles at the top of the access track so as not to risk taking on Geltsdale’s version of the Cresta Run which winds down to the Visitor Centre.
Quite a few things of interest to report on the bird front. In mid November a party of 7 snow buntings were seen on one of the Fell tops. There are doubtless many more groups of these attractive Montane buntings that simply go unnoticed because so few people climb the North Pennine Fells at this time of year. There have also been a few jack snipe seen in the past few weeks. One of these was flushed from the track up to Cold Fell summit at an altitude of about 500m! This is highly unusual, since, if you read the books, these secretive winter visitors are not supposed to be found above about 300m. Perhaps this was a late migrant, just touching down en route to its wintering grounds further to the south. Jack snipe breed up in Northern Fenno-Scandinavia and Siberia, and winter in a wide swathe across Western and Southern Europe and even into Trans-Saharan Africa. These diminutive snipe (less than half the weight of our common snipe) are usually very inconspicuous as they skulk in densely vegetated wetlands. If you are lucky enough to spot one out in the open you will notice that they have a much shorter bill than their cousin, and also lack the central crown stripe. They also bob up and down continuously, rather as if their legs have been cunningly spring-loaded! Usually, though, the only view you get of one is when it flushes from almost under your feet, and arcs away silently to some thick cover nearby.
Black grouse have been prominent here of late, with groups of up to 5 grey hens (females) and 4 males regular around the Stagsike trails. We’ve even had a couple of solitary males displaying in the last few days. The gurgling and hissing calls of lekking birds are, of course, mainly to be heard in Spring, and, to a lesser degree, in the Autumn. Mid-winter bubbling is quite unusual, and is a most welcome sound to enliven a bleak day.
Other birds of note include a herd of 16 whooper swan and a water rail around the tarn, an unprecedentedly large winter flock of around 200 golden plover high up on the fells, a number of woodcock sightings, and two regular barn owls, often out hunting from early afternoon.
With winter now well and truly here, we await our first smew on the tarn – since this is usually one of the best places in Cumbria to see this most attractive of wildfowl. I wonder what sort of Yuletide weather we have in store...