28th March 2021

Siskin are surprisingly scarce in the village but about this time each year I nearly always get the odd bird dropping into the garden. This year was no exception…

And as usual it was there for a few minutes and then not seen again. I also added Red-legged Partridge to the year list with a bird flying into the solar farm.

In terms of summer migrants Chiffchaffs have arrived in some numbers with at least 11 singing birds counted this weekend…

And Chris had a single Sand Martin on the river. 

Otherwise it has been exceptionally  quiet although I did have a mouse’s-eye view of this Kestrel…

On the botany front I have added a couple of plants to the parish list. The first was Siberian Bugloss (or Great Forget-me-not) found on a roadside bank.

This is a naturalised garden plant. This might also be the case with the second find, some large drifts of Sweet Violet…

But given the setting I think it is as likely they are genuinely wild plants. Today I found a colony of the white-flowered form of the same species…

I'll finish with the only other flying thing of note, this massive Globemaster doing (very!) low circuits over the village this week...

21st March 2021

There has been a fantastic movement of Whooper Swans through northern England over the last couple of days. Most of it has been to the west of us but I went out yesterday morning hoping to join in and fortunately had a cracking flock of 52 birds over Morton.

The wild calls of Whoopers are definitely one of my favourite sounds of nature. I think this is the largest skein I have seen in the parish.

Further signs of spring as well with two singing Chiffchaffs in Ainderby and another by Morton bridge.

It’s always nice too to photograph your first butterfly of the year…

Little else of note although singing Corn Bunting numbers are slowly rising…

And this dead tree held a nice little colony of Tree Sparrows...

I’ll finish with the least convincing camouflage of the day…

14th March 2021

Chris texted me last week to say there was a Shoveler on the little flood pools between Ainderby and Thrintoft. I was just replying to say how productive those pools were when he rang, four Avocets just dropped in! I grabbed my bins and camera and started to jog (well, fast walk) there. I had barely crossed the village green when the dreaded call came in, they had flown off high north never to be seen again…so personally disappointing but another great addition to the parish list.

At the beginning of last year I jotted down half a dozen species that I thought were possible additions to the bird list (Dusky Warbler was not one of them!!). So we’ve now ticked off Egyptian Goose and Avocet and a Great White Egret was seen literally feet outside of the parish boundary. That leaves White-fronted Goose, Ring Ouzel and Pied Flycatcher still to get….

Otherwise it has been a rather quiet period although the first summer migrants arrived yesterday with a Chiffchaff by the railway and Chris had another by the waterworks. There have been a smattering of them arriving at local sites over the last couple of days so I assume these are spring arrivals rather than wintering birds.

Winter thrush numbers have fallen sharply with Redwings particularly scarce now although a handful joined a mixed thrush and starling flock in Thompson’s fields…

And surprisingly February’s leucistic fieldfare was seen again in the same area (but unfortunately the photos are no better!)

Talking of thrushes there seems to have been a bit of a resurgence in Song Thrush numbers this year after very sharp declines but it remained the scarcest of the five regular thushes in the garden this winter…

New birds for the year included the first singing Corn Bunting along Potter’s Lane and a calling Tawny Owl in the hall grounds.

Finally,  this moth, found on the side of the road, is a Dotted Border

This is actually a new species for the village (although reflecting a lack of moth trapping at this time of the year rather than rarity)