Champions of the Flyway!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Yorkshire, June 2009 - passerines













Jackdaw and Tree Sparrow from Bempton, where human traffic streams past the colony of the latter, not a metre above their heads, in nest boxes attached to visitors centre; Song Thrush, Robin and Blackbird from Robin Hood's Bay - quintessentially English birds and fishing village for the American relatives: the view from Scarborough Castle, looking down the coast at the magnetic cape of Flamborough Head (background) and Filey Brigg, and male Linnet on the fence there; and a Barn Owl with prey after dusk at Flamborough Lighthouse.

(Funny how the passage of time alters one's appreciation of common species, usually for the better - Linnets were the archetypal 'junk' species, trapped in their hundreds in Flamborough reedbed roosts when I was a kid, and I was encouraged to view them as such. Now, as the above bird amply illustrates, well, what a beautiful finch.)