Have just got back from a week in the Lake District, followed by a week skiing in Italy. In the Lake District I hoped to find some new mountain birds that I had not seen before.
I was there for a week of adventurous activities and I was staying in a cottage on Derwentwater, which was swarming with waterfowl. On the lake, there were several Great Crested Grebes, Cormorants, Mute Swans, thousands of Greylag and Barnacle Geese, Canada Geese, Mallard, Teal, Red-breasted Mergansers, Coots and Moorhen. The highlight for me of the birds on the lake was the flock of about 50 goldeneye and the pair of Goosanders that came right up to my kayak when we were out on the water. While kayaking, I also saw lots of the common waterfowl, a grey heron, pied wagtails and a variety of gulls- black-headed, herring and lesser black-backed. A greater spotted woodpecker busily drilled holes into the trees around the cottage, where there were also plenty of chaffinches, nuthatches, robins, woodpigeons, collared doves, wrens, dunnocks, blackbirds, great tits, coal tits, blue tits, long-tailed tits, carrion crows, jackdaws, magpies, rooks and goldfinches. On a late evening walk around the lake, I found lapwings, oystercatchers, the flock of goldeneyes, pheasants, a small flock of snipe, several pipistrelle bats and five roe deer. While in Whinlatter Forest Park, where I was mountain-biking, I hoped to find crossbills and red squirrels. Unfortunately I found neither of these conifer forest specialities, but there were hundreds of siskins, chaffinches, goldfinches, several buzzards and jays. Up in the mountains, during a trio of 8-hour treks, there were huge numbers of skylarks, meadow pipits and stonechats. While doing the extremely-enjoyable activity of ghyll descent (climbing down a mountain stream) there were several grey wagtails and a possible dipper. My favourite two birds of the trip I found while trekking, dozens of ravens and a remarkable tally of 10 peregrines! For me, my birding highlight of the trip was the 6 or so tawny owls that kept me awake while camping in Borrowdale National Park. On the return journey I saw several kestrels on the roadside.
Number of species seen: 52
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