Holiday 3: A Day on Walney Island

I had read that there was a Cumbrian Wildlife Trust nature reserve at South Walney, so after we had visited the ruins of Furness Abbey, we drove through Barrow and over the bridge in the photo above to Walney Island (which is the near side in the picture). It was a rather chilly day in June, and my photos testify to the fact that the sun was not much in evidence.

The island is not very large and we were soon on the reserve. I was thrilled to find Eider ducks in good numbers, including the pair in the photo above.

I gather that Walney Island pretty much marks the southern limit of Eider colonies on the west coast. Eiders are amber listed in terms of conservation, so the island is lucky to be able to boast 700 breeding pairs. The duck in the photo above is the female ...

... and this one is the male.

There are long expanses of shingle which provides a nesting area for various gulls, terns and other species such as the Ringed Plover. The Horned Poppy added a splash of sunshine to the scene.

Can you spot the Eider ducks nestling on the grass of the remains of the Walney Salt Works, which closed in 1909?

The lighthouse dominates the skyline.

Piel Castle lies across the water, and can be reached by boat. In 1487 Lambert Simnel landed on Piel Island. The castle dates from the 14th century.

The photo above shows the Eider colony on Walney Island.

In addition to long shingle beaches, there are large areas of saltmarsh.

The photo below helps to give a sense of scale and also a sense of 'the remote', which is something that strikes the visitor after the hustle and bustle of Barrow.

In a landscape that was predominantly grey, it was not only the Horned Poppy but also the tall spikes of Viper's Bugloss that added colour to the scene. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, but all too soon we were crossing the bridge back to the mainland for a drive through the Lakes to our rented holiday property near Cockermouth.

Holiday 2: Amphibian Encounters around the Solway (north and south of the Scottish border)

Seen at NT Sutton Hoo last weekend

I know a good place for tadpoles here in Suffolk, but we do not often see frogs or toads in our local patch. Last weekend was an exception when we saw this little fellow, in the two photos above, poking out of what I presume was a drinking bowl for sheep at NT Sutton Hoo. The warty skin suggests a toad to me, but I may check by posting a photo on iSpot, particularly since the upper abdomen (probably the chest cavity) seems swollen.

On our recent holiday to the Solway estuary, we saw more toadlets and froglets in one hour than I have ever seen in my life (though we saw good numbers of toads crossing the road last year near Kilmartin).

This time the creatures were so tiny that we had to be incredibly careful not to step on them. It was a moving and fascinating experience, and one that poet Neil Rollinson wrote about during his residency with the Wordsworth Trust. The sad part (and having watched BBC Springwatch and Unsprung 2016, I use the 'sad' word with some trepidation!) is that far from all will reach maturity. I hope, however, that a good number will survive to boost the population in the lovely Eskrigg Nature Reserve near Lockerbie.

You can see in the three photos that follow that most were comparable to a short pine needle (or perhaps a 20p piece or needle from a yew tree) in body length.

Taken at Eskrigg

Taken at Eskrigg

Taken at Eskrigg

The next couple of photos show something of the landscape in the reserve - the pine forest with its moss and hummocky mounds ...

 ... and the watery areas.

The only adult frog (a Common Frog, I believe) that we saw during our first week away, while we were south of the Solway, was this one below, who was strolling across a rough track at night in the vicinity of the River Cocker. David got out of the car to take the photograph for me. The light lateral fold is clearly visible, and the striped barring on the hind legs is well defined.

Frog near the River Cocker, Cumbria on a wet night in late June 2016

On one of our expeditions, we found ourselves on the Furness peninsula. We had been told that there was a good place in the care of the National Trust for a waterside picnic; and although we actually moved on up the coast to eat, we were thrilled to discover a Natterjack Toad pool at our first port of call. Male Natterjack toads can sometimes be heard calling to the females on balmy summer evenings. It must be a special sound. It is terrific that the National Trust is working to conserve the Natterjack, which has a distinctive yellow stripe along its back.

The photo below shows the pool - and you can see that it is fenced off to give added protection to the spawn, tadpoles, toadlets and adult Natterjacks. There are only 60 known sites in the UK inhabited by these toads, which are protected by law in all stages of their development, and consequently should not be disturbed. Full marks to the National Trust and other bodies for protecting the Cumbrian population of these special amphibians.