Goldeneye on Kentmere Tarn

Male and female Goldeneye on Kentmere Tarn

What might be the highlight of a day in Kentmere?  I'd never have guessed.
With the vernal equinox comes a sense of renewal. In pastures below Goat House Scar there are ewes with new lambs.  A hedge has been laid in traditional style and  brashings lie on the grass. In the barn pregnant ewes are feeding.  Daffodils bloom in the churchyard and peacock butterflies seek nectar on this warm and bright morning.   I glimpse dragonflies in flight.  The yew before the door of St Cuthbert's Church is 1000 years old,  hinting of layers of history. A hazy sunlight illuminates the  14th century pele tower of Kentmere Hall.  
Some fifteen years ago I came to Kentmere early and often, walking north from the church toward Kentmere Reservoir and toward the source of the RIver Kent.  Spring comes late to the fells and I came early, for the solitude and hoping to witness the advent of spring.  I met farmers tending their flocks, watched them gathering off the high fell, learnt how the use of stone barns had changed over the centuries.   
On a field-trip focusing on the archaeology of the dale, and its history, I visited the site of a bronze age settlement at Millriggs.   And our guide told us how to date the stone walls so characteristic of the dale. 
Local slate has been used in buildings and in dry stone walls for centuries.  Slate quarrying on an industrial scale  dates back to the late 19th century, with Steel Rigg and Jumb being  important quarries.   Some quarrymen were local, others lived at the barracks at Steel Rigg.  At Low Bridge, not far from the church,  there was a house which served as a pub, a brothel and a temperance hotel.  By turns.  The harsh conditions for quarrymen contrast with the peace and serenity of Jumb quarry nowadays on a spring morning. 
 One day I surprised  a peregrine at Steel Rigg quarry, and the falcon flew with its shrieking prey in its talons.  So many lost histories,  those too intricate to fathom, those we choose not to tell.

Today,  we began our walk lower downstream.  We have personal history here,  traditions to observe.   The wood was once coppiced for hazel and there are long-fallen trees bright with mosses, mature trees adorned with epiphytes.  There's scarlet elf cup fungus,  sometimes deep in the moss.  Follow a glow of scarlet and you begin to see  more fruit bodies on dead wood lying on the woodland floor.  Dog lichen looks spectacular as sunlight pours down through the canopy.   Hazel catkins are spent but willow beside our track is in bud,  tiny points of light against a blue sky.

Upstream of  Kentmere Hall Plantation,  the bracken fell-side is bisected by a track above Kentmere Tarn, where the River Kent slows and spreads into pools half-hidden by a fringe of shrubs and trees.  On 1st March 2025 a hazel of  beautiful form was a shower of  catkins.  A year later, on 21st March, its catkins are faded and the shrub looks unremarkable.  Today,   the highlight is a willow of golden catkins.  If we might come closer we'd probably hear the hum of bees.  I love catkins and all tree flowers.  They herald the coming of spring well before the leafing of the canopy. 
Bright sunlight blazes the white plumage of birds on Kentmere Tarn. Through binoculars, I can just make out  two black and white birds through branches of trees, and distant.  My camera may catch what I cannot see so I take a sequence of shots.  They're probably goosander, often seen along the River Kent  and I've found them at Skeggleswater.  They're sawbills, with long, serrated bills.  These birds don't have the goosander profile and  I'm wondering If they're goldeneye.  The male's head is inclined  away but there is a white patch between the base of the bill and below the eye. His head is large.  His mate clinches it for me, she's goldeneye.  For definitive ID I send an image to a birder friend whose expertise I trust, even with a single indifferent image.

Jeff Holmes writes. 'You are correct. Both are Goldeneye. Very nice looking ducks. Mainly found on freshwater lakes with a population breeding in Scotland. Interestingly during the last few years breeding has occurred at Chew Valley Lake with success.  I haven't seen any Goldeneyes for many years. They are very rare in West Somerset with Chew being the main place to see them in winter.'
Finding distant goldeneye, for myself, on the RIver Kent- that's a thrill.  Strong light falling directly onto a subject makes all the difference.  I can even see the pink tip of the female goldeneye's bill which indicates she's in good breeding condition. And sunlight gleams in her yellow eye. Images from our return walk show goosander were also present.  
​If you search online for goldeneye be sure to enter Goldeneye duck. Otherwise you'll be offered the Bond movie.