We are currently hosting an exhibition by Northumberland painter Christina Mingard, which includes some great landscapes of the reserve. Paintings, prints and cards are for sale.

A routine patrol to look for black grouse and check cattle proved to be a reserve highlight yesterday as a white-tailed sea eagle cruised low above my head in the direction of Tindale Tarn. Fifteen minutes later I located the bird again sitting on a fencepost being mobbed by a buzzard, which looked small in comparison. We scrambled together some telescopes to get good views before the giant dropped behind a stone wall out…

Over 1000 barnacle geese and 165 pink-footed geese have passed through so far today (5pm, 7/10/11), on their descent towards the Solway. A few barnacle geese have landed on the tarn and in the fields, exhausted after travelling on the wing from Spitsbergen. It's been a fine day and a privilege to see a part of this huge migration set against the backdrop of the Northern Pennines.

Other sightings today include crossbills…

Recent notable sightings include more ospreys on passage, a kingfisher on Tindale Tarn and good numbers of pink feet geese passing above. A first for the reserve was on Tues 13th September when two gannets were spotted, with a sub-adult bird resting for a moment with the mute swans on the tarn. The birds were blown inland during the stormy weather. A marsh harrier was seen hunting on the hill side last Friday (9th).

Following a week of osprey activity at the tarn there have been no further sightings this week (15th-20th). A single black grouse was lekking most of yesterday (18th), and could be heard from the visitor centre. It was a young male with quite a bit of brown on his upper wings. I saw four ring ouzels feeding on late bilberry around the Black Burn, fattening up prior to migration. Red legged partridge sightings have become…

The vast amount of rain last week caused a large landslip on the Woodland Trail, which is now temporarily closed. The good news is that a new island has naturally formed in front of the tarn viewing screen, and provided it stays put it should appeal to certain birds next breeding season.

Recent wildlife activity includes 54 redpoll near to Howgill Cottages, stonechat and whinchat fledglings on the Stagsike Trail and lots…

An exhibition of sculptures inspired by the natural world is now on at the visitor centre until mid July. Please park at the main car park and walk down to the centre if you can and experience the great outdoors en route.

An eventful couple of weeks weather-wise has left many nests being abandoned due to heavy rain and severe gales. We now have just two pairs of barn owls, both in the Gelt Valley. Short eared owls have faired better and adult birds are very active feeding their fledged young. Long eared owls have also done well with four pairs scattered around the reserve. Lots of birds are singing at the moment, sedge warblers, blackcaps…

We are relieved to see some rain at last as the breeding waders were beginning to suffer. A number of lapwing nests have already been desterted due to birds finding it difficult to locate food in the dry soil. The warm weather did bring some unusually early Hobby sightings at various points on the reserve.

Some first sighting dates of the year include:

Cuckoo - 20th April (two males are regularly calling near the visitor…

More wheatear and ring ouzel sightings this week, right across the reserve now. Swallows and willow warblers have both returned over the last few days. A red kite drifted over the visitor centre yesterday (14th). Rough legged buzzard and long-eared owl have both been seen in the Gelt Valley today (15th). Our black grouse count this morning totalled 37 lekking male birds at a variety of sites.

Some of our upland migrants have started to arrive back, wheatear on 23rd and the first ring ouzel on the 28th. Numbers of these species will increase over the next few weeks and birds should be seen all across the reserve. Other spring migrants seen (or heard) so far include chiffchaff, also on 23rd and sand martin on the 25th. The smews have now left the tarn but a pair of common gulls has taken up residency on the island…

Spring has arrived in the uplands and the curlew are calling. Small numbers began to arrive from 20th Feb and are mingling with the lapwing in the meadows and around the Tarn (over 200 lapwing have been counted). Our first redshank was recorded on Feb 28th, which is early, and snipe were heard drumming in front of the visitor centre this morning (2nd March). A pair of stonechats have been hanging around the sheep pens on…

John Wright and Will Nicholls are displaying a selection of their wildlife photography in the Geltsdale Visitor Centre this Spring. Will won the title of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2009 for his photos of red squirrels. John is a regular to the reserve and volunteers with monitoring and bird counts.

A single skylark returning to the reserve today is one of the signs of spring. Another are the Lapwings back in the meadow infront of the visitor centre, One or two have been present for over a week, but they have increased in number to nine today. Winter hasn't gone yet, a stoat in almost full ermine has been seen near the visitor centre on a couple of occasions, its white coat standing out against a green background…

We are having daily sightings of an adult male hen harrier around the tarn and visitor centre area at the moment but his visits can be any time of day, so you'll be lucky to catch him. Two males and one female smew on-and-off at Tindale Tarn. It looks like we have at least one barn owl that has survived the cold snap, it flew infront of the car as I was leaving one evening. Several short eared owls have been seen hunting…

The tarn has been completely frozen over for a week leaving just two mute swans and the black swan paddling around in the outlet. Two female smews were around for 2 days before the recent freeze. Crossbills have been singing in the conifers in front of Tarn House and waxwings were feeding on the hawthorn hedge by the visitor centre. A grey male hen harrier was spotted hunting on the Rigg above the tarn on Tuesday (21st) 

Mic's photography exhibition is now open so why not take a walk down to the visitor centre to see his excellent wildlife pictures and catch a glimpse of black grouse en route.

The snow covered fells make for good bird watching at the moment with black grouse in particular being highly visible. A group of 10 males is regularly seen around the Stagsike Trail, car park and visitor centre and another 19 males over in the Gelt Valley. Birds of prey are frequently seen hunting during the short daylight hours. Again, from the Stagsike Trail hen harrier, peregrine falcon, barn owl and short eared owl…

So far this month the weather has alternated between wet and windy, with a few glorious cold and clear days in between.  The Black Grouse are becoming really visible at this time of year as they feed out in the open on berry trees - a flock of eleven was even seen flying over the Rigg.   A ring-tail Hen Harrier was sighted on the reserve this week and on Tindale Tarn a Slavonian Grebe has been spotted diving amongst the usual…

More Hen harrier sightings over the past two weeks with a grey male seen feeding on a meadow pipit near to the visitor centre. We've had flocks of both pinkfeet and barnacle geese passing over on their way to the Solway Firth for the winter. Fieldfares, redwings and bramblings have all been seen. A solitary black tern was spotted fishing on the tarn for an afternoon.

A good week weather-wise with clear skies and light winds. Bird highlight of the week was a Lapland Bunting on Tarnhouse Rigg (see gallery for photo taken by Jeremy Roberts). This is only the second reserve record and an odd time of year for a winter visitor, although there have been a few Lapland Buntings in Wales at about the same time. Two species of harrier were seen this week, Hen Harrier and Marsh Harrier, both…

Hi folks

Despite many of our breeding waders having departed us, we've had some great sightings on the reserve over the last couple of weeks including several juvenile marsh harriers hunting around the scapes. There are some nice small flocks of passerines such as linnets and redpoll feeding on the seeding grasses. Whinchats, stonechats, wheaters and ring ouzels are all still present.

An osprey has been visiting the…

We're excited to announce that following the premiere last night, 1st July at Hallbankgate Village School, Sprogwatch is now available to view. Just click on Explore Moor. 

Sprogwatch is a short film made by and starring children from Hallbankgate Village School supported by the Haltwhistle Film Project. The children made a series of visits to the Geltsdale reserve to find out all about the wildlife that lives here with…

Local children from Hallbankgate Village School ( with the help of the Haltwhistle Film Project) have made a short film about the wildlife at Geltsdale.  

The talented young  team filmed dipper using camouflage hides, built models of Black Grouse ( to create an animated version of their lek display) and created a voiceover for our nest cam footage of hen harrier chicks.

The film is currently being edited  and will  premier at…