Padley Gorge Disappointment and Encounter With Cows!

 Padley Gorge Disappointment and Encounter With Cows!

We arrived at 8:00am in hopes of seeing Wood Warbler ad Redstart. We were told by Scott to go upriver to the left of the river which meant we had to cross it after a very treacherous walk alongside it. We crossed at a point with millions of Grey Wagtails flying upriver and downriver. We then saw a bridge and then a black, small thing was moving up a trail. At first I thought it was a very big froglet or toadlet, but upon closer inspection, was some sort of rodent. I thought it was a mouse, but then I saw the same thing in the water. They were Water Voles! We continued out trek and ended up finding a path. We then asked some people where to go and the all didn't have a clue what those two birds were. Finally, we met a man who was a birder and he told us is was unlikely we were going to see one this late. While we could hear both birds, we couldn't see either one of  them. This was when I really needed a thermal imaging camera. Disappointed, we left the site, seeing a Dipper while we were leaving. We figured we'd go to  Cumbria as it was near home. We went to a spot where a lady said she'd found a Redstart nest. While it could be too late for the birds to be in the nest, we tried anyways, seeing Wheatears in the fields and a juvenile Pheasant quite close to us on the path. We ended up dipping the Redstart. Finally, we ended the day by going in a field near the Otter Tarn. We went through some brambles and nettles to cross the stone wall with barbed wire and got into the field. We inspected the fields but came to a conclusion that it just wasn't the right condition for Redstarts. Then, a herd of Belted Galloways, the breed of cow here, came running after us and we had to leg it back to the car. While did dip both those birds, the experience was great.