Northumberland & Cumbria.....A Lovely Few Days,15th - 18th June 2018.

With the very kind offer to go up and stay with my sister and Kev at their cottage at Eals in rural Northumberland,Trace and myself jumped at the chance to visit this lovely area.
 Over the few days we stayed,it was apparent what a great little area it is for wildlife and particularly some of our scarcer breeding birds.
 A few walks along the South Tyne revealed some lovely local breeding birds which included 2 pairs of Oystercatchers,with broods of 1 and 2 respectively,1 pair of Common Sandpipers with a well grown chick and breeding Dippers as well as breeding Curlew and Snipe close by also.
 Along the South Tyne Trail,we saw a male Redstart visiting his nest box and in a local woodland on our last evening of the stay i also found a pair of Pied Flycatchers nesting,what a great area!.
 We also saw plenty of nice visitors to the garden feeders,which included a family party of 3 Great-spotted Woodpecker,several Siskin which included singing and displaying males,a single Jay and a continual stream of commoner species which included Coal,Blue and Great Tits,Blackbirds,Dunnock,House Sparrows,Goldfinches and even the local Pheasants with a brood of chicks.
 An all day visit to the fantastic Haweswater saw some amazing scenery along with more great wildlife sightings.
 As we got out of the car on arrival Kev spotted something in the adjacent pine plantation which turned out to be a lovely Red Squirrel a great start to the visit.
 Other sightings included a singing male Wheatear,some interesting plants in the form of Heath-spotted Orchid,Heath Bedstraw,Parsley Fern,Wild Thyme and Tormentil amongst others.The best find though went to a small beetle which Trace found,a species of Rove Beetle - Staphylinus erythropterus.This is potentially only the 5th record for Cumbria after looking records up on the NBN Atlas.
 It has to be said though,the scenery around Haweswater is absolutely breathtaking and our hike here over the 778m Harter Fell was knackering in places,but what a view from the summit.
 I would just like to say a big thankyou to both Kev and Kirst for our stay in this special part of the world and we both look forward to visiting again in November.

Oystercatcher,Eals.

Rabbit,South Tyne Trail.

The Beautiful South Tyne River At Eals.

Oystercatcher,Eals.

Singing Male Siskin Outside The Cottage.

Heath-spotted Orchid Taken With The S8.

Waterfall Along Mardale Beck,Haweswater.

Mardale Beck,A Tree Pipit Was Singing In The Ash Tree.

Up In The Clouds,Small Water In The Foreground And Haweswater In The Background.

Panorama Of Haweswater Taken From The Top Of Harter Fell,778m Above Sea Level.

Haweswater Taken From The Summit Of Harter Fell.

Rove Beetle sp. Staphylinus erythropterus,a rare find by Trace.

More Stunning Scenery.

Common Sandpiper Along The South Tyne.

Juvvie Oystercatcher,Eals.

Juvvie Blackbird,Eals.