Eider Drake.

The Penrith group of Cumbria Wildlife Trust were running a trip to their South Walney reserve.  It had rather the feel of an old folks outing as we boarded the mini bus.  Being mid week we were all in that wonderful position of being retired.

The weather couldn't have been better warm and sunny all day.  One of the reserve specialities is the Eider colony.  The area round Walney and Barrow in Furness has the only Eider colonies in the county.  Unfortunately the hides were a little too far from the birds for my lens, so this is a crop.  During the day I saw more Eider than I have in the rest of my life put together.

Another speciality was unfortunately missing, no Grey Seals were hauled out at the colony.  Even if they had been the stage of the tide would have made them too far away.  The person taking the tour suggested the presence of a lot of yachts recently had made them wary.  We did see them swimming however.

A song posting Sedge Warbler brought back happy memories of May days on the Insh Marsh reserve surveying for breeding territories in the 70s.