Rampside & Sizergh Castle - 19th February 2010

It was the second annual birthday birding day out and this year we'd decided to head up to Rampside to catch the high tide and hopefully some photographs of the resident waders.
High tide wasn't until just after 14.00 so we called in at Sizergh Castle with the hope of ticking the Hawfinch that have been reported there on and of over the last few months.
We pulled up in the car park at about 9.30, poured a coffee and waited. A Song Thrush was singing and we spotted a female Bullfinch in the distant hedgerow. Blackbird, Robin, Chaffinch, Blue and Great Tit flew in small numbers as well as a single Jay and plenty of Jackdaw heading for an adjacent field. We did manage 2 Hawfinch on two occasions but only briefly and not long enough to get a photograph. The first time we spotted them was on the ground near to where we had parked and I'm sure they had been there a while before we picked them up as they took to the air and disappeared over the hedge. Having seen the Hawfinch we headed off making various stops between Bardsea and Rampside to see what we could find along the coast.

Gulls along this stretch included Common, Herring, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed. A single Wigeon, Shellduck and 50+ Eider were bobbing around on the distant sea, with Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Lapwing and Starling rounding the sightings off.

TOP CURLEW (L), ABOVE OYESTERCATCHER & LAPWING (L), BELOW EIDER DOING SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING (L)

Rampside was a great place and thanks goes out to Mike for letting us know about the place and giving us information about the area. Firstly we parked in the small car park and had a look around before driving up Roa Island Road turning around and parking up to watch the waders arrive as the tide came in. To the right Brent Geese were on view but soon departed before the tide got to high. Pipits were in evidence but didn't stay still for long but the Water Pipit we managed to snap was a good tick for Reece.

ABOVE WATER PIPIT (L) BELOW BRENT GEESE (P)

Waders included Golden and Grey Plover the later a tick for both of us, Turnstone, Dunlin, Curlew, Knot, Redshank, Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher.

ABOVE TURNSTONE & DUNLIN (P)  BELOW GOLDEN PLOVER (P)

ABOVE GREY PLOVER & DUNLIN (P) BELOW RINGED PLOVER (P)

ABOVE REDSHANK (P) AND BELOW DUNLIN (P) BOTTOM TURNSTONE (L)

Gulls included Herring and Black-headed and Eider, Shellduck and Wigeon showed in numbers. All in all a great day out and one we'll deffinitely repeat once the Tern are back to breed during the summer.