1st: After charging up the thermal camera I decided to take it out on its first full trial and got the biggest surprise ever!! I left it until it was thoroughly dark and decided to go into town and have a look along Pickering beck … I was quite frankly stunned by the quality of the image and its ability to pick up heat signatures … bear in mind we are talking about complete darkness here. So it was amazing to see Brown Rats scuttling about on the stream bank completely unaware of my presence … a roosting Moorhen and a calling Tawny Owl. It was at this point things got really interesting … whilst upstream suddenly I heard a big splash lifting my imager up to investigate… I saw saw swirling water and then on the opposite bank an Otter!!! Just couldn’t believe my luck… for the last few years I have seen sprints and tracks along the stream’s edge … but to actually see an Otter in the centre of Pickering…stunning !!! I went home feeling very lucky and blessed!!
3rd: From today, for the next few days there has been some very nice weather forecast … so is this our Summer??? So I decided on another Butterfly trip … this time on the look out for Dark Green Fritillaries …. Often you find these Butterflies on open areas of the North York Moors they just love plants such as Knapweed and Thistles…. but the usual areas were completely devoid of any butterfly species… So one last spin of the dice keep fingers crossed …. and YES…feeding on some Greater Knapweed two gorgeous Dark Green Fritillaries…. and they didn’t seem to mind my presence as long as I moved slowly …. What a way to spend a couple of hours …. I soon had a card full of images … another successful trip. However, whilst on the moor it was disappointing to note hardly any birds … the only species seen were Kestrel, a few Meadow Pipits… and of course lots of Red Grouse … some birds were seen and others calling from hidden sites amongst the heather.
