21st July 2024

It’s been a while since I last posted so a quick run down of the rather meagre  ‘highlights’. On the bird front another (?) pair of Avocets turned up on the field pool in mid June...

Unfortunately, despite some apparent excellent habitat, these have been the only passage waders on here apart from regular gatherings of Lapwing with a peak count of 29 birds

Although there was the first Green Sandpiper of the autumn on the river this morning.

The one addition to the year list has been Quail, with two calling birds in the fields at the end of Greenhills Lane yesterday. It’s more than a decade since I last recorded Quail in the village.

In terms of breeding birds there have been at least six singing Corn Buntings…

And up to six pairs of Yellow Wagtail…

Normally at this time of year I would be looking for non-avian interest but It’s been an awful summer for butterflies and I didn’t see my first Comma until today, the only species' around in any numbers are Large White and Meadow Brown and I had more than 20 of the latter in a patch of teasels and thistles yesterday…

Dragonflies too have been more notable by their absence with the exception of Banded Demoiselles with more than 50 today in a patch of Himalayan Balsam.

I’ll finish with a cracking patch of Marsh Woundwort photographed on the river…

and a rather obliging, if wet, fox snapped last month...

9th June 2024

Bird highlight this week was undoubtedly the two Avocets I found on the small floodwater pool near Langlands. This is my first sighting in the parish.

I have trudged the couple of miles to this pool right through April and May and have basically seen nothing so I nearly didn’t bother yesterday.

A couple of years ago I drew up a list of target species I would like to see in the village, with these birds it’s now only White-fronted Goose and Ring Ouzel outstanding.

This was a short local week as I have just come back from a great trip to the Carpathian mountains in Romania. As well as superb landscapes and interesting history/culture I saw some cracking wildlife…

Wallcreeper (yay!!)

Map butterfly

Tau Emperor moth

Bird's Nest Orchid

Black Redstart

Yellow Wagtail (Dombrowskii)

Fire Salamander

Bee-eater

Sand Lizard

 

6th May 2024

A strange spring continues with weather more reminiscent of late autumn than spring. As if to underline it I haven’t seen any Swallows in their usual village nesting sites yet but I had a group of up to 26 (plus a single Sand Martin) huddling together on wires the other evening as though it was October...

This weekend though did finally see more significant arrivals with Whitethroats in particular suddenly appearing in very good numbers and in sites that I haven’t recorded them for the last couple of years…

I also saw my first Garden Warbler of the year yesterday…

Together with the first House Martins over Morton-on-Swale. So, except for Swift, I have recorded all of the common species I might have hoped to have seen by now albeit in generally very low numbers.

Normally, wader habitat in the parish is non-existent but because of the extensive rains we have held on to two really nice pools this spring. Only one problem – no waders. The pools have attracted a handful of Gadwall and some very aggressive Shelduck…

But not so much as a Lapwing in the wader line. It has been a massive disappointment, but I did at least tick off Greenshank with one calling over the house last week. It was also good to see at least two pairs of displaying Curlews in the village, a vanishingly rare sight in the lowlands these days…

Butterflies have been impacted by the cold weather too with only very low numbers, pick of these have been Holly Blue in the garden and, yesterday around a dozen Orange Tips…

April 14th 2024

Despite headline higher temperatures there has been a significant wind chill and must be one of the factors causing the very slow arrival of summer migrants but we did at least add a couple of new species this week. This included the first Blackcap singing by the entrance to Ainderby manor on Friday. There were also at least four Yellow Wagtails along the river yesterday…

Together with a Wheatear…

But I still haven’t seen a Swallow...

There was also a series of netting along the river bank which looked to be designed to stop Sand Martins nesting?

Plenty of winter birds still around though with a skein of 50 pinkfeet that went over the garden on Tuesday and were picked up by Andy in Scruton four minutes later, that’s about 35 miles an hour. Plenty of Meadow Pipits too and a flock of 75 Fieldfares that went (unusually) high north-west over the house on Friday.

There has been plenty of floodwater around the village but it hasn’t pulled in the birds I might have anticipated but I did see two pairs of Gadwall, another Coot, a pair of Shelduck and three Tufted Duck.

There were also seven Little Egrets on the floods in the bottom fields at Ainderby, up to six Cormorants

and really high numbers of gulls, this included a large mixed flock including around 250 Common Gulls…

It’s also been a good week for Hare sightings with one seen swimming across the floods on Langlands and this group of five there as well…

Finally, the bit of sunshine today had an instant impact on butterflies with sightings of Speckled Wood, Holly Blue, Orange Tip and Brimstone today in the village.

Easter Monday 2024

The first Sand Martins were back on the river on Good Friday…

But apart from excellent numbers of singing Chiffchaffs no other summer migrants have made it to the village so far. Pick of the birds though was a distant Coot, on the flood pool on Ladyfield, a surprisingly rare bird in the parish…

The sunshine at Easter did bring out a few insects too with a number of reports of Brimstone, two Peacocks and a Small Tortoiseshell…

And the first Bee-flys with four on a willow trunk by the river.

These were all Dark-bordered, the only one we get up here, but at least one other species is moving rapidly north so worth keeping an eye out…

A few bees too with (I think!) Early Mining Bee…

And Ashy Mining Bee…

I also managed a trip up Ingleborough this weekend to see Purple Saxifrage, I definitely knew I had walked to the summit when I got into bed that night but it was a glorious day…

17th March 2024

It’s always good when the first summer migrants arrive and yesterday saw the first Chiffchaffs singing their name in the village. I had five on my shortish walk and friends in the two neighbouring villages also reported their first arrivals yesterday so it was obviously an arrival en masse. I could only manage this poor shot though…

As these birds arrive others are on their way out but Fieldfares and Redwings have been decidedly scarce this side of the new year. There were, though, around 250 birds in the large ploughed field down School Lane yesterday, around 80% were Fieldfares…

The same field held five Little Egrets today on a small pool of floodwater.

Little else to report although it was good to have at least three Corn Buntings singing down Potter Lane yesterday…

Another scarce farmland bird, the Tree Sparrow, seems to have had a sudden, and unexplained, dip in fortunes in this area after encouraging signs of recovery. This has been noted by other local birders too so it’s always nice when you come across a flock…

3rd March 2024

After a wash out yesterday I did manage to get a walk out today. Starting off along Potter Lane I spotted a small bird hopping on and off the fence posts. It was a smart female Stonechat…

Although they are a generally common bird they are very rare in the parish with this being only the fourth modern record. A very nice addition to the year list. Further along the Linnet flock in the cover crop was down to around 100 birds now but I also flushed a Grey Partridge here, almost from under my feet.

Earlier that morning I had put out on the parish wildlife WhatsApp group to keep a look out for Whooper Swans as they were starting to move north. Almost on cue I picked up their fantastic call and a skein of 13 birds swept over me…

I got a text from a friend a few minutes later as the same birds passed over Bolton-on-Swale which is just under eight miles as the swan flies. Taking the timings of the two that would put them averaging about 52 miles per hour. Not a bad lick considering there was no following wind (and helps to explain why my photo was only of them retreating rapidly into the distance!)

The river levels were very high so there was little to see, but a Grey Wagtail flew over and I saw my first Lesser Redpoll of the year.

There were two pairs of Oystercatchers along here too. I have never been sure whether these early birds are just passing through or are our local birds. The answer came with the appearance of a wandering single bird. In both cases the pairs acted very aggressively towards the interloper, driving him off. So they are clearly paired and holding territory…

25th February 2024

Pinkfooted Geese used to be a distinctly uncommon bird in the parish with sightings restricted to the odd fortuitous sighting as they passed over in Autumn. Now they are seen with some regularity in winter and on both migrations.

This bird was one of eight associating with the parish Greylag flocks…

And this morning there was a fine skein of 175 calling high over the village…

Otherwise it has been a quiet week although I have added a few more species to my year list with the first Corn Bunting singing by the river, small numbers of Golden Plover near Morton Bridge and a lovely Barn Owl along Greenhills Lane…

This should have been a great shot as it was flying right at me but by the time I had fiddled with settings it had spotted me and this is all I got!

Finally, a small cover crop down Potter Lane has been good for finches and buntings this winter and the Linnet flock here yesterday had grown to more than 300 birds (but difficult to count in the fog!)