• Alston
• Allonby And Aspatria
• Ambleside And Troutbeck
• Appleby In Westmoreland
• Askam In Furness
• Barrow In Furness
• Bassenthwaite
• Borrowdale
• Bowness On Windermere
• Brough
• Buttermere
• Brampton
• Broughton In Furness
• Carlisle
• Cartmel
• Cleator Moor
• Cockermouth
• Coniston
• Dalston
• Dalton In Furness
• Dent
• Grange Over Sands
• Grasmere
• Greenodd
• Grizedale
• Hawkshead
• Kendal
• Keswick
• Kirkby Lonsdale
• Wasdale And Gosforth
• Kirkby Stephen
• Longtown
• Loweswater
• Maryport
• Melmerby
• Milnthorpe
• Nenthead
• Newby Bridge
• Orton
• Penrith
• Pooley Bridge
• Ravenglass And Eskdale
• Sedbergh
• Seascale
• Shap
• Silloth And Solway
• St Bees
• Skiddaw
• Staveley
• Tebay
• The Duddon Valley
• Threlkeld
• Ulverston
• Vale Of Lorton
• Wasdale
• Wetheral
• Whitehaven
• Wigton
• Windermere
• Workington
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Lake District birds

The peregrine, with slate-coloured back and head and a barred breast, becomes highly vocal should anyone wander near the nesting crag of a species which has the full protection of the law. In the wild, the peregrine may be just a dusky outline against the bright sky. It has a cigar shaped body and tapered wings (in general shape it resembles a crossbow). When stooping, the term for its spectacular dive on prey, it might attain a speed of 100 miles (160km) an hour. Lakeland is particularly well off for peregrines, which recovered their numbers following the banning of harmful farming chemicals that they had been absorbing through their prey.

The ring ouzel, which resembles a blackbird but has a white crescent on its chest, is found nesting above the 1,000 foot (300m) contour. The song is made up of short phrases, repeated several times. Cool and clear, it is heard over a wide area in calm conditions. The bird is less common than it was, but might be seen near one of the many gills where rocks and heather give its nest some seclusion. A favorite nesting place is on a ledge quite close to a beck. Do not be surprised, in a craggy area, if you hear the exuberant song of the common wren, a bird made familiar by being featured on the old-time farthing, and because of its small size and cocked up tail.

Concern is felt for the skylark, which has declined in number on farmland but is still to be found on the grassy fells of North Lakeland. This streaky brown song¬ster is not much to look at, but its fast, protracted warbling song will lift the heart of anyone who hears it. Meadow pipits, which are also small and streaky brown, are fairly common and some overwinter on the fells. The song flight is especially interesting, for it descends with stiffened wings and tail, looking like a shuttlecock. Tree pipits use some of the scattered thorn trees as perches and, like the meadow pipit, on their song flight, descend to earth with fixed wings.

The wheatear, a ground nesting bird with a smart grey back and crown, occurs in rocky areas and sometimes nests in redundant rabbit burrows. The cuckoo is less common than it was. Old-timers still turn over the money in their pockets when they first hear this summer visitor, which has a hawk like appearance and an unforgettable call that, incidentally, is made by the male bird. Should you see more than one cuckoo, the plumage will tell you their sexes grey for male, brown barred for female.

A checking sound from a patch of fell side juniper could be the call of a stonechat. This smart perching bird has a dark head, a white half collar and a breast that is tinted reddy-orange. Fell side thorns and rowans are visited by wintering field fares, members of the thrush family, identifiable by their grey heads and rumps. Farms Swallows nest on beams or ledges in outbuildings. A number nest in the porches of Lakeland churches. Boards are fixed below the nest to catch the droppings and protect the worshippers. The house martin, which is swallow like in appearance blue-black above, white underneath has a shorter tail than the swallow and, most distinctively, a white rump patch. Mostly, the nests are plastered under the eaves of buildings.

The spotted flycatcher, which sits, straight-backed and unmoving, waiting to leap out on a flying insect as food, may be seen hawking insects in the sunlight near farms and outbuildings or on a mature tree. The bird nests in a well sheltered crack or cranny. The few barn owls that remain favor deserted outbuildings and ,fly through the dusk like big white moths, seeking small mammal fare. They have been called screech owls after their blood-curdling call.

The dipper, a dark brown bird with a white 'bib' and a short tail, is a familiar bird beside fast flowing water. Watch it alight on a rock and bend its legs repeatedly, as though acknowledging the applause of an unseen audience. The grey wagtail, slategrey above and a conspicuous lemon on the under parts, is also a water lover. Notice how it walks or runs in preference to hopping, and how it repeatedly lives up to its name by wagging its long tail. The name is derived from the grayness of its upperparts; the under parts are pale yellow. The pied wagtail, a black and white bird with the family's long, frequently wagged tail, is a bird of moist areas where there is much insect food. A crevice in a dry stone wall is a regular nesting place. The Derwentwater boat landing at Keswick is a good place to become familiar with waterfowl. Both graylag and Canada geese will be seen.

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