Another day in this beautiful area after a lovely sleep in the cabin,saw us heading out to firstly Ravenglass and then the stunning Muncaster Castle and area.
After the short journey along the A595 we arrived at the village of Ravenglass.
Now this is not the prettiest place i have visited,but it has the added bonus of being the meeting point of three rivers as they reach the Irish sea,the rivers Irt,Mite and Esk and this in turn provides a great area for birding and wildlife.
The reason it was chosen in past history as a Roman naval base was the fact that these three rivers met here and in those days it was known as Itunocelum and it stationed the Cohors Prima Aelia Classica(First Cohort of Hadrian's Marines),so in other words it was Emperor Hadrian's navy,of Hadrian's Wall fame.
The only real ruins here are of the Roman baths,the finest surviving example left in the UK which date back to the 2nd century AD
The Romans occupied this area for some 300 years and the garrison housed 500 soldiers.
Anyway back to the birds,we managed to see a few nice species which included 2 wintering/late Greenshank feeding in the Esk,9 lovely Red-breasted Merganser,a Redhead Goosander and 6 Little Egret,not bad for an hour or so.
After our little walk,it was time to travel the mile back up the road to Muncaster Castle.
This lovely castle which has been in the ownership of the Pennington family for almost 800 years,has some interesting history and it is said to be the most haunted building in Britain.
But for me,the grounds and views across the fells towards Scafell Pike are just beautiful and the gardens are just stunning.
A few birds were seen while we walked around the gardens and unbelievably included a male Hen Harrier which i saw fly up from the River Esk valley below the castle and it then began to soar around before heading off north west.
After studying my pics it soon became apparent the bird had a radio tag on its back,these are fitted at the nest so the birds can be tracked as they are such a rare breeding species in the UK now and are heavily persecuted on Grouse Moors,which is totally illegal as they are protected by law.
I have sent the photos and details to a friend who works for the RSPB Investigations Team and I'm awaiting details back.It will be interesting to see where it has travelled from.
After our lovely time at the castle,we travelled over to Ambleside for some tea before heading back to the cabin to relax.
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| Information Board At Ravenglass |
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| Some Information About The Roman Baths. |
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| The Ruins Of The Roman Baths,Just Outside The Village. |
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| Part Of The Estuary And Where The River Esk Runs Into The Sea. |
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| Beautiful Views From The Castle Grounds. |
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| The Castle Entrance. |
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| The Male Hen Harrier As He Soared Around. |
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| You Can Clearly See The Radio Tag On This Photo,With The Aerial. |
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