Well Red - Cumbria, July '25

Male Common Redstart - shepherding just fledged young, and so very tame..

A whirlwind 48 hours in Cumbria over the weekend, ostensibly for two Breeding Bird Surveys, meaning early starts and plenty of time to explore locally with the Mrs along for the ride.

 

Time out from bird surveys here in Cumbria to breakfast with the local Red Squirrels... #ukwildlife #ukmammals

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— Mark James Pearson (@markthebirder.bsky.social) 5 July 2025 at 12:46

We'd heard Red Squirrels were a star fixture around our accommodation; we didn't expect quite so many, however, or for them to be quite so tame and entertaining.....

Regular readers will know of our fascination with neolithic sites and cultures, and fortunately we were close to a very special one - Long Meg and her Daughters, a huge stone circle (the third widest in the UK) and a site of the early Neolithic, up to 3800 BCE. That's almost 6,000 years ago..... 

Long Meg herself (positioned to cast a perfect long shadow straight through the centre of the circle on the winter solstice) is of a vibrant red sandstone, with megalithic art of spirals, circles and concentric arcs. A wonderful place.

Redstarts, Red Squirrels, Red Sandstone? Well red, indeed.