A bitterly cold day gave me thoughts of birds driven on to
the river but in the end it was distinctly quiet. No Snipe or Redshank on the
muddy margins although, in terms of waders, I spotted a flock of around 80
Golden Plover in the fields by the A684 and also ticked off my first
Oystercatchers of the year…
These are the real harbingers of spring in the parish although
these early birds usually move on up the Swale and over to breeding sites in
the west. Our local breeding birds don’t tend to arrive until late March or
early April.
The other year ticks were a total of three pairs of
Goosander and a single Little Grebe on the river. Not a lot for near frostbite!
I also spotted more of the striking Willow Bracket fungus…
Earlier in the week I had Treecreeper in the garden, the
first for quite a few years…
The other news this week was Chris had a Red Kite over
Thrintoft and John reported a Cattle Egret on his land. No sign since but there
were a couple of North Yorkshire records around the same time so who knows…
I’m worried too about the few birds remaining around Thrintoft. I suspect it’s the sowing of temporary grass over the winter months. Gone it seems are the fields being left to stubble. By contrast, I walked around Langton Farm on Saturday where there are hectares of stubble and acres of set aside and it was a completely different picture: buntings, finches and larks in abundance. In one short hedge we had 60+ yellowhammer, 3 reed and 1 corn bunting! There’s been less standing water too this year, which has left me “duckless”.
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