Week in the Lakes

I am off to the Lake District for a week mid-month. Apart from Landscapes I was wandering what wildlife I might encounter up there in Cumbria at this time of year??

Any tips or advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Rob

I'm unlikely to be of much help Rob, as i only visit/shoot on my local patch, due to the infrequency/restricted routes of my local public transport systems

On my patch {west of ennerdale lake} any birdlife 'hotspots' are very localised, due to the many square miles of similar habitat. I'm sure there are various 'small' reserves in the county, but ive never been able to explore them, and as is often the case, they are probably more suited to observation than photography.

I suspect redwing and fieldfare to be building up in numbers during your visit, but generally speaking, most of the action tends to be along the coast at this time of year: common waders/peregrine/stonechat etc, although purple sandpipers will be thin on the ground until late in the month {in my area} and tides will also enter the equation though.

Inland, many of the usual/common 'sheep grazing' habitat species will be around, and in my area the boggy nature of the land will usually produce snipe/buzzard/ treecreeper, and if extremely lucky......a sighting of woodcock {along with most of our common finches/tits etc}.

Certain fields may well hold large flocks of geese, and flooded inland quarries may also have small numbers of waterfowl and siskin/redpoll/ within the waterside trees etc {although it maybe a bit early in the year for reasonable numbers/opportunities}.

I think with short visits, it will be pot-luck as to what you may see, if you are just generally stalking, and maybe seeking out one of the small/local trust reserves is probably the best bet, although many of the lakes may support small numbers of waterfowl, and often have areas of substantial woodland surrounding them {and maybe different species to my area}. Its worth noting that many lakes are 'immediately'surrounded by hills, and the low height of the autumn sun may barely rise above {reducing reasonable light-levels to maybe only a few hours a day}.

If you are lucky to have some crystal clear conditions during you visit, and doing some landscape stuff, its possible the skys may be blighted by vapour trails of planes, as my local lakes {ennerdale/crummock/loweswater/buttermere} appear to be under a fairly busy flightpath occasionally {may not be the same in other areas though}.

Sorry, not much help, but packing some waterproofs is a good idea in this area.

Alan

Thanks Alan,

I've got the waterproofs packed already

I will just wait and see what's about. It all depends on the weather too.

Thanks again.

Rob