From Cemlyn to Cockermouth

Yesterday was a lovely day and it was very Spring-like at Cemlyn in the morning. Me and Tony had 3 Sandwich Terns a male Wheatear, 2 Sand Martins, 2 Whimbrels, Purple Sandpiper, Peregrine, Mippet and Pied Wag movement with the accompanying fine male Merlin, 300 Golden Plover (previously c.500), 6 Gannets, lots of Med Gulls, Common Lizard and a fine showing of Lesser Celandine. Then we bumped into Martin and started chatting about all things Bird! We all agreed the photos of the Demoiselle Crane in Cumbria looked pretty nice and before we knew what was happening we checked we all had the appropriate day-passes from our Wives and we were heading for the Lake Distict on Good Friday, the start of the Easter Holidays. Needless to say, the M6 was horrible so I cut a corner through St Helens, to join it at Orrell, then back off at the M55, with a detour via Pilling Lane, Glasson Dock and Lancaster, to avoid the major congestion. It took about 6 hours to get there, not the predicted 4. However, although it is presumably an escapee, although it has no rings, it was a great opportunity to see a rather beautiful species of Crane, in a wild state, free-flying, allowing us experience of the species to compare to the more familiar Common Crane. They do breed in the Crimea and migrate though the Middle East including Cyprus, but I suppose it's the fact hat it isn't that uncommon in Captivity in the UK. Anyway, we were back home in 4 and a half hours around half ten. It was a bit of a crazy day, but good fun was had by all!