As my recovery from spinal surgery progresses, I am now managing a few trips out – thank goodness. It is amazing how much we take our health and especially mobility for granted. For obvious reasons this has been brought into sharp focus for the last few months and I genuinely celebrate every time I can get out into the field. The days are getting warmer now and the daylight hours are getting longer too. On the evening of the 10th April I had a trip down to the local Carrs. It was very quiet bird wise, but I did manage to get very close to a feeding Roe Deer that was completely oblivious of my presence due to a favourable breeze blowing my scent down wind.
12th April: a nice passage of Wheatear again on the local Carrs. With 3 birds on the 12th and on the 13th seven birds were counted. It is always nice to see these heralds of Spring moving through the local area.
19th April: Early Spring brings a very strange noise to the North York Moors – a deep humming like a gigantic bee!! It is of course part of the Common Snipe’s courtship display. The noise is made by the outer tail feathers vibrating very fast as the bird goes through its switch- back display. Brilliant to watch and listen to!!! I was lucky to watch such a display for about 20 minutes – but the bird always kept a tantalising distance away. In the end just some record shots were obtained!! As I watched the Snipe a familiar call suddenly echoed across the moor .. Cuckoo … then again !!! My earliest UK bird !!
News broke on the evening of the 20th April of a trip of Dotterel on Danby Beacon a traditional site for these iconic upland birds. My birding mate Alf and I travelled over there on the 21st the day after ….fateful. Not a sign of the birds. Unfortunately a lot of people had descended on the area and the birds were put under too much unnecessary pressure and they had flown off the previous evening …. people just won’t learn! Normally the second week in May is the prime time to look for Dotterel on the NYM. However, as it has been so warm and with a good deal of southerly winds, these birds must have left their wintering grounds in Africa early, to make their long journey North to their breeding grounds in Scotland and Scandinavia. However, it was not a wasted journey as we got brilliant views of a pristine Stonechat.
24th April: I had a trip to Wykeham lakes as I wanted to see Sand Martins. I was lucky as the weather was quite cold and had forced the birds to feed quite low over the water. It was great to watch these beautiful little power houses with their buzzing calls swoop and glide over the water in perpetual motion!
On the 26th April, I had heard reports of a Little Ringed Plover, so it was a quick trip again, down to Wykeham Lakes. After a good scan of the lake shore the bird was picked up feeding on the short cut turf, by some out buildings. The plover showed really well: always much daintier than Ringed Plover, and showing a very prominent eye-ring. Also in flight the Little Ringed Plover shows a very faint wing bar in comparison to the Ringed Plovers distinct wing bar.
Moving into May……
2nd May: a twitch for an iconic Spring migrant: Common Crane. A lucky observer had seen this bird a couple of days before as he went to work!! The bird was feeding in a field just south of Seamer village. On arrival at the site nobody was there!! I thought this was a bad omen! But fortune favours the brave…. and as I set my scope up I immediately got on the bird … hard to miss really – but what a beauty. Cranes seem to be doing well with re-introduction projects in both Cambridgeshire and Gloucestershire. Also good numbers are seen regularly in Somerset, Norfolk and South Yorkshire. The future is looking good for these majestic birds of the fens.
5th May had a meeting with a Duke today – Oh yes, I move about in exalted circles!! His eminence wanted a meeting at Hawnby… so I could not turn down a royal appointment. Anyways, after trampling over a couple miles of open moor, a sheltered valley suddenly came into view with plenty of cowslips their favoured food plant.. And sure enough their royal highnesses put on a great show. Of course I am referring to his eminence the Duke of Burgundy a very rare butterfly. No bigger than a 20 pence piece, these gorgeous little butterflies love these sheltered little valleys and we watched them for over an hour. Sadly these butterflies have declined greatly due to habitat loss and can now only be found in certain sites in North Yorkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire Bedfordshire and Sussex.
6th May: An afternoon trip down the local Carrs produced a real gem this afternoon 4 Whimbrel were found feeding in a field.. unfortunately the birds did not stay long and were soon on their way.
7th May: A beautiful Barn Owl was seen this afternoon hunting the fields on one of Pickering’s back roads to Cropton… and what a stunner it was. Always a privilege to see at any time of the year.
