A bakingly hot day again:31C. We spent a lazy morning at the site trying to find shade and then set off for the very posh (and very expensive!) Langdale Chase Hotel for a superb lunch looking out over the lake towards the Langdale and Coniston fells.
Another mega hot day!After meeting friends for lunch at the splendid Strickland Arms, we went to Halecat Nursery which was excellent as usual. Next we drove back to Fowlshaw Moss mainly to get an annual tick for Osprey which nest here. The views, however, are very distant, so just a tick collecting exercise. Until we met two birders who told us of a second pair also nesting, one of the birds being an offspring of the original pair. So we went back to the platform from which they could be seen and there they were, just about in photography distance. Heather was watching through the scope and exclaimed that another bird had just flown in. Magic. Presumably the male returning with food as it soon flew of again passing right over head. Fabulous.
The Moss is also good for dragonflies, especially black darters and white faced darter. No white-faced to be seen but I did get shots of black darter.
An excellent day again.
We are fortunate to be able to keep our caravan on the edge of the Lake District between Kendal and Windermere. This time we were there for the first fortnight of July. Our friends (old Gits) from Newport and Blackpool (hence NOGS and BOGS) rented a cottage in Stavely over the period of Heather's birthday. Mrs P was understandably miffed when it oured with rain all day on her birthday and was little better the next day, although we did manage a steamer trip along Windermere to Ambleside. We finally got a decent day on 6th and went for a walk from the cottage, though Staveley and along the River Kent to the bridge at Beckmickle Ing and returned on the other side of the river. We had to pass the fine Eagle and Child on the way back and it would have been rude not to call in, especially as the brewery has now sadly closed. It was very quiet on the bird front but I was pleased to see a single dipper as it sped along the river befor landing on a roch and making its characteristic bobbing motion to help camouflage it against the white water.
One of our favourite walks is from the caravan, down the lane to Bowston Bridge and the River Kent. We walk along the river to Staveley, where it would be rude not to call in for a pint, and then home across the fields, hopefully to sit outside the van in the sun with a cup of tea (or some vital rehydration of another type). Wandering down the green lane into the valley we hoped to see the swallows that regularly nest in the farm buildings but sadly we were too early; similarly with the house martins in Bowston village. We did, however, enjoy seeing our first grey wagtails of the year on the river and during the walk we found three pairs of nesting dippers feeding chicks. At Beckmickle Ing Bridge were the first dipper pair; regularly returning to perch on the same rocks with beaks full of food. They were very confiding birds and not phased by people walking along the path or over the bridge or even dogs running into the water. I was, therefore, able to sit quietly for a while and photograph them. We chose for our picnic spot a grassy bank where we could sit amongst the wild daffodils or Lent Lillies. Arriving in Stavely we enjoyed a pint in the riverside beer garden of the very fine Eagle and Child. There was another pair of dippers feeding chicks here in the slate wall of the river embankment. A refreshing pint while watching dippers feeding chicks - what's not to enjoy!! Fortified from our refreshments we made our way back to the van across the fields where we sat outside to enjoy our BBQ. All told we saw 23 bird species, 19 plants as well as peacock and orangetip butterflies.
