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…