Back To Bowland.

A taste of spring on Tuesday with wall to wall sunshine and not a breeze. Although it was likely to be the road to nowhere bird-wise I had to get myself back to Bowland to get the feeling of what it will be like up here in a couple of months time. The result for Tuesdays visit is....more pics than birds, but as usual 'clik the piks' and they are a little more impressive even if five of them are mine.

Burns Day. Pete Woodruff.

Meanwhile the blowtorches were out in force today with the 'Guardians of the Countryside' doing one of their many land management tasks. With panoramic views this is just one of about four burns I could see from my viewpoint on Hawthornthwaite Fell.  

Spotted Flycatcher Country. Pete Woodruff.  

But Tuesday was an opportunity to soak up the beauty of an area like the one around Marshaw/Tower Lodge and Trough Bridge, and to remind myself that this is prime Spotted Flycatcher country and best location for finding them in our recording area with a double figure count hoped for again this summer, plus breeding Redstart, Common Sandpiper, and hopefully Pied Flycatcher again this year.

Autumn Beech. Pete Woodruff.

I was more than a little concerned why this magnificent Beech - photographed in autumn 2011 near Tower Lodge, had ended up....

Beech. Pete Woodruff.

....like this under eighteen months later.

Human Remains. Pete Woodruff.

You can never fail to find human remains in this area which attracts some of the less desirable element on ocassions. Here are the left-overs from an obvious Halloween Party which could easily have been a mid-summer party below trees with breeding birds and 'NO FIRES PLEASE' signs a waste of time erecting for these people.

Siskin Antonio Puigg

Thanks for the Siskin Antonio, one of a few species I had hoped to encounter on Tuesday....but didn't.

Earlier in the day I had been up the west side of Hawthornthwaite Fell for a couple of hours to find 9 Red Grouse and flush a female Merlin which had been on the ground within a few metres of me unnoticed. I also noted Lapwing and a solitary Curlew back up here from the coast, and hopefully the Sand Martins will be back here again at two small colonies in the area in a couple of months or so.