23rd April

Summer migrants continue to drip in (albeit slowly) with a single House Martin over the village yesterday and the first Common Sandpipers on the river…

The Willow Warbler population seems to be in better shape than last year with around ten singing birds between Morton bridge and Thrintoft beck but no Whitethroats seen yet.

The excellent pools in the Bottom Fields have been reduced now to a tiny puddle but still attracted Green Sandpiper (with a second bird on the river yesterday). They also pulled in this female Pied Wagtail doing a good impression of a White…

A Little Egret has taken up virtual permanent residence on the river by the railway bridge…

Funny how quickly you get used to birds, I don’t give it much more attention than I would a Grey Heron these days but I can still remember the excitement of seeing my first bird in the parish only a handful of years ago.

And talking of semi-resident, this Cormorant has been present virtually every day this year in the Magic Garden…

On the mammal front I saw my first Stoat of this year in the Bottom Fields yesterday and today this Fox on the railway (it’s behind you!)

On an entirely different subject my wife spotted a dent in our car bonnet yesterday and found this caught in the wiper trough..

It’s magnetic and contains metallic flecks. Is it a meteorite?!

16th April

Despite the sunshine it has been a really cold weekend so not surprisingly migration has slowed to a trickle. My only new bird for the year was a single, rather distant, Wheatear in the Bottom Fields today…

And although there are now three Willow Warblers singing in the Magic Garden…

(along with two Blackcaps) Swallows remain distinctly scarce throughout the parish.

In the brief warm spell yesterday afternoon I found my first Small white butterfly for the year and my first Peacocks..

Slim pickings for a long weekend in April!

9th April

Despite the recent beautiful sunshine the mornings have been really cold…

So it’s perhaps not surprising that summer birds have been a bit slow in arriving but today Sand Martin numbers were almost up to summer levels, my first Willow Warblers  and at least five singing Blackcap were in the scrub near the river at Morton and I had my first Swallow over Greenhills Lane.

The sun also meant insects were more noticeable, these included my first Green-veined Whites of the year…

And half a dozen male Orange Tips along the railway line.  

And continuing my painfully slow entomological education, I think this is Bombylius Major – the Dark-edged Bee-fly…

This is the only half-decent shot I have ever taken of Treecreeper. A pair of birds looked to be prospecting a potential nest site over near Sanderson’s wood…

It wasn’t until I downloaded the picture that I saw the bird was carrying a ring. I can just make out a 2 and what looks like a 7 so this is almost certainly HJA 472, a bird which was ringed in the Magic Garden in October 2015.

This Chiffchaff was also carrying a ring but unfortunately it is on too high a zoom and is not crisp enough to make out any characters. This bird was behaving strangely, stretching up on long legs, its wings half-cloaked and its mouth open as though panting.

Another distant photo taken today of a Kingfisher with a fish which it has brought back to its nest hole. It wouldn’t enter until I had gone (despite being a considerable distance away and on the opposite bank)

I should also mention the 'big bird of prey' which a few villagers have mentioned to me. Not a great picture against the sky but this bird was distinctly large (and was hovering at one point) but I can’t make it into anything other than Common Buzzard…

Talking of sightings by other people, recent ones have included a remarkable ‘kettle’ of at least 20 Buzzards over the north fields  (seen by Tracey Palmer), John and Ann Coxon saw Red Kite at Scruton Lane ends (a couple of days before my sighting in Ainderby) and Alex Martin had a fine flock of 50 Waxwings feeding along Greenhills Lane. 

I also saw six Waxwings in the Magic Garden last week and Andy Johnston had a dozen at Warlaby. Presumably the last remnants of what has been a fantastic winter for this species.

1st April

Bird of the day was undoubtedly Red Kite. As the cloud rolled in today I picked up what I thought at first was a large gull flying in from the east but soon realised it was a kite. It was heading straight for the village but the local crows then intercepted it and drove it off to the south-west out over Langlands/Greenhills direction hence this distinctly distant shot…

Yet another bird that would have been missed if I’d been a minute later walking up the lane.

Despite them breeding relatively close to here they are still a real rarity in the parish as they don’t seem to have made the leap from their breeding  sites around Harrogate over the sterile arable prairies to the south of us.

Yesterday I walked along the river again, very quiet with no further sign of the Dipper. Sand Martin numbers had increased and I saw Little Egret, two Kingfishers, a pair of Oystercatchers and four pairs of Goosander…

A pair of Red-legged Partridge were on Langlands farm and there were twelve singing Skylarks between Morton Bridge and Ainderby (via Langlands)…

I also had good views of this young Hare grooming (Hare-styling?)

Today I had Siskin in the garden, unfortunately I had forgotten to fill up the nyger seed holder so it made only the briefest of visits. I also saw my first Brimstone of the year at the top of Greenhills Lane…