The sun is shining and Hodbarrow has come to life today. Just had a wander around taking some ‘before’ pictures for the litter pick (I’ll put some up after we’ve had it). All the birds, plants and insects seem to really be enjoying the brilliant weather.

 Out of the bird breeding season Dave and some of the Campfield volunteers had been clearing scrub to create channels through the gorse which…

Does litter and fly tipping at RSPB Hodbarrow annoy you? Can you spare a few hours at 2p.m. on 30^th May? 

The RSPB and Copeland Borough Council as part of the Copeland Health Week have organised a Community Clean up at Hodbarrow on 30^th May 2-6pm.

If you could spare a few hours to help us collect litter and generally clean up Hodbarrow then please come down and show your support. We’ll be meeting at the main car park…

Firstly - Dave and myself along with a few others were very privelidged to get our eyes on to a possible reserve first.......At 12.30p.m. a Long Billed Dowitcher was sat probing right in front of the hide on the bank of the main shingle island. I won't mention that Dave and I were trying to name all the peaks we could see whilst having our lunch when some kind chap pointed a funny looking snipe out to us........ whoops…

Hey its blawing a hooley out there!

 After taking delivery of a large box Dave from campfield proudly produced 20+ resin painted little terns (or least terns if you are being pedantic as they are from America).  The aim is to place the fake little terns onto the shingle islands in an attempt to lure any real ones into the area to breed. It’s a technique known as social attraction and seems to have worked in America to…

Well a week into my post as Hodbarrow Warden and I understand how people can be so passionate about the place. The site is so well used by Millom and Haverigg folk who have been very welcoming to me. During a recent litter pick around the car park I managed to receive some very encouraging comments (we'll ignore the "it'll go back to the same mess tomorrow" one). I've also been chatting to quite a few visitors to Hodbarrow…

Here’s the obligatory hello from the new warden. As many of you will know (particularly from recent newspaper headlines) after fighting of 87 other applicants Hodbarrow has a new warden. My name is Mhairi Maclauchlan and I started my new role on Tuesday following a quick drive over the Pennines from Blacktoft Sands where I was based up until a week ago. After being shown around and a few bits of admin I am now a fully…

Pillwort - copyright Pond Conservation.

Six new ponds have been created at Hodbarrow to safeguard rare plants and animals, thanks to funding and support from the Million Ponds Project and Biffaward.

A staggering 80% of ponds in the countryside are in poor or very poor condition, so it is very important that new clean water ponds such as these are created, giving the hundreds of species that depend on ponds a fighting…

Hi, I am the RSPB Marine Conservation Officer for the North West of England, and it is my job to help protect seabirds and wading birds in the Irish Sea (from the Solway down to the Dee Estuary). At the moment I am spending my days fighting for Marine Protection Areas that give seabirds the protection they need at sea.

Out of all birds, I find seabirds the most fascinating. Some live incredibly dangerous lives – take…

The RSPB West Cumbria Local Group is 25 years old this year and as part of their celebrations they are hosting an open day at RSPB Hodbarrow nature reserve, on Saturday 11 June from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm.

 This special event is a great chance for locals and visitors to take in the wonderful atmosphere and to meet friendly local RSPB volunteers and staff. A walk around the reserve meanders through wildflower-filled grasslands…

As part of the Black Combe Walking Festival, there will be a chance to take a walk with the RSPB and enjoy the excitement of spring at their Hodbarrow Nature Reserve, near Millom on Tuesday 31 May.

This free and easy guided walk will follow the trails through the reserve, which at this time of year have an abundance of singing birds in the bushes, butterflies fluttering around and flowers in full bloom.

Hodbarrow is…

Staff and volunteers have been carrying out a lot of scrub coppicing over the winter and plan to do some more before the arrival of our summer visitors.  This should improve conditions for breeding warblers and other small woodland birds.  We were dismayed to find that further incidents of fly-tipping had taken place over the christmas period when we inspected the reserve on January 14th but were able to clear a lot of…

Large numbers of redshank gather on the island to roost at high tide with smaller numbers of dunlin, oystercatcher, knot, dunlin and black-tailed godwit among others.  Still a few sandwich and common terns flying about over the lagoon and plenty of warblers still present in the scrub areas.

Almost 200 pairs of sandwich tern are on nests on the ski bank (the long narrow spit of land running out from the caravan park) and a further 29 pairs of common tern are on the island in front of the hide.  Unfortunately we didn't see any little terns yesterday so it looks as if they will be nesting on Foulney Island again this year.

However, still plenty of other stuff to see - loads of eider duck and a single common…

Staff and volunteers had a major spring-clean just before Easter removing all of the litter from near the entrance.  We now await the council to remove the bulkier items.  While doing this we counted 94 red-breasted mergansers on the lagoon.

The first of the sandwich terns have arrived at Hodbarrow - hopefully many more to come and set up home for the summer