Natural Selection

I had an idyllic hour at Roa Island Causeway over the high tide yesterday, but being me I am going to write about my WeBS count on Ormsgill Reservoir instead. Maybe I will do the Roa Island stuff later in the week.

Regular readers will know the reservoir is a) where I first got into birding over 40 years ago and b) basically a concrete bowl that fed cooling water to the old steelworks the other side of the railway line.

It gets waterbirds and there were still eight Goldeneye hanging in. It will be interesting to see if the injured male has survived the winter and summers for at least the third year.

Other than the Goldeneye it was pretty standard fare until I passed the small patch of reeds in the north west of the rezza in the above photograph (well just round the corner, the growth in the above pic is a bit miniscule).

Out of nowhere I was struck by the explosive song of a Cetti’s Warbler. For a Cumbrian birder I am particularly conversant with Cetti’s songs and calls because I live in Lancashire, which they effectively colonised about ten years ago before finding the move over Morecambe Bay a bit intimidating.

Cetti’s Warblers have well and truly arrived in Cumbria the last couple of years, they aren’t that remarkable any more. But this is my old stomping ground and it basically shouldn’t hold any attraction for a Cetti’s Warbler. This bird in all likelihood won’t linger. If that’s the case I am even more pleased that our paths crossed at an important place to me.