Mind The Gap

The day started promisingly with a small group of Goldcrests in our garden but thick fog meant little was moving. I managed just over 50 species in a morning walk to Morton returning  via Back Lane to home. A large arrival of Redwing was the most notable sighting with good numbers of bird dropping out of the mist into the elderberry bushes in Sanderson’s wood. A late Blackcap was also here and two unidentified swans flew over in the fog.

By the lake Chiffchaff was still present along with two Cormorants, Jay, Redpoll and Little Owl and two Snipe towered out of a small patch of floodwater in The Bottoms. Three more Cormorant and a large flock of Golden Plover flew over.

Both of these latter groups flew through The Gap, the couple of fields which is all that separates Ainderby and Morton. I have often noticed that birds will re-orientate to fly over here rather than the adjacent village areas and there was an example tonight with this mixed flock of Black-headed Gulls and Lapwings switching from a north-easterly to north direction apparently to avoid over-flying the village.