Eider Duck #51

What a wonderfully sunny day we've had, but boy that wind was cold! 
We spent a long morning at South Walney Nature Reserve and despite most of the hides being closed, we saw plenty of birds and had a great time. Three new annual birds today were the Eider, our largest duck and the one with the best mating call EVER, a single greenshank and loads of ringed plovers in the channel. 
After a warm in the car and a late picnic lunch we dropped in at Sandscale Hawes. This NT site is an important breeding site for Natterjack Toads, but since they are nocturnal we didn't see any, but we did see some newts in the exceptionally clear ponds that get cleared out every year to provide the optimum breeding conditions for the toads. 

A thoroughly lovely day.