Full house - 16th June '25

Today was one of those days when you really get the feeling the gods are with you. After recent medical stuff it was my first day back working in a couple of weeks, and the forecast was for warm sunshine - ideal. Before I set off, however, I brought in the recorder from the back garden here in suburban York and checked the spectrogram over breakfast....

 

Snoozin' Nightjar - what a beauty

It's the time of year when the only sane reason to bother continuing with nocmig is for something seasonally special - perhaps a Quail, even a rare heron, or an odd wader. Amazingly, the last three nights have registered Quail on the first two and then Avocets last night (the only birds recorded...). I'm pretty sure it's a rare York area record, and my first ever on nocmig anywhere, after five years recording on the coast.

Fun fun fun with the Ortolaan (affect Kraftwerk voice for this line)

So, a very good start. A diversion on my way up onto the moors blocked my route via Pickering and pushed me further eastwards along the A64, and much nearer Wykeham as it happened - where the Ortolan has been reported over the last day or two. Probably not a bird I'd have gone for on its own, but seeing as I was over there, up to the Raptor Viewpoint for a short while seemed like a good idea.

Lapwing chick

It was - almost immediately, there it was, with its male Yellowhammer suitor (they've been observed copulating, and nesting material has been gathered....) - excellent, and perhaps unique, given those circumstances. On the way back to the car, I was kindly told of a roosting Nightjar on a logpile not two minutes away. Again, excellent - what wonderful birds they are, and the opportunity to see one snoozing nearby should never be skipped.

Adder

Having already had a relative blinder without reaching mid-morning, I arrived up at my survey site more than happy with the day's gifts. But there was more to come, with one of those one-treat-after-another runs that included displaying Hobbies, Cuckoos everywhere, wader chicks (including Curlews), Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries wherever I looked, a gorgeous (and very tame) young female Adder on my path, a day-churring Nightjar in the midday sun, and to cap it all, a close fly-by female Hen Harrier carrying prey.

The coast, mid-June '25

My first opportunities to get to the coast since recent medical issues and recovery, and while it was perhaps a bit too much too soon, it was well worth it. At Filey on Friday I had the Brigg to myself, aside from multitudes of seabirds, and a few late waders - including Sanderling and Turnstone:

Saturday, and a relaxing walk with the Mrs up Hoddy Cows Lane from Buckton village to the clifftop was equally peaceful and nature-filled, with the wildflowers at their peak; in turn, butterflies were numerous, with nine Painted Ladies (below) and 25 Red Admirals (with a very notable 75 of the latter moving inland along Carr Naze the day before).

Breeding birds were out in force, and it was partucularly good to see no fewer than three singing Corn Buntings (above) as well as plenty of Skylarks (below):

Meanwhile, on the otherwise deserted clifftop, we enjoyed a private viewing of the breeding seabirds, including countless Gannets (a gorgeous third calendar year bird below)....

... while the Puffins were in full-on fight mode - we watched birds locking bills and spiralling off the cliff, breaking off just metres from impact, three times....

We rounded off with a short rockpooling session at South Landing, which was a blast (and the first time I've done so this year - but hopefully by no means the last).

Crabfest at South Landing - Velvet Swimming Crab (above), female Shore Crab (below)

Ba-ba-ba-ba-build.... House Martins, Levisham, June '25

A day surveying up on the Moors, this time a repeat visit to Levisham. Plenty to enjoy up there, but before that, an issue with parking the car; the area where I usually do so being occupied by a herd of Highland cattle, instantly threatening to use my vehicle as a scratching post - and so to plan B...

... which took me down the slope to Levisham itself, which is basically a chocolate box hamlet in a beautiful valley with the Steam railway station at it's centre. Parking the car, I had the good luck to bump into these trans-Saharan beauties collecting mud at the side of the track, and so I delayed the start of my survey to spend some time with them.

Which, as you can probably tell from the photos, was a joy - watching their mud-gathering techniques, additional forays to collect dry grass and straw, and their (mostly friendly, occasionally hostile) interactions, all while not giving a flying one about me sat a few metres away.

A fabulous way to start the day, which also got me breeding Redstart, Tree Pipit and Marsh Tit before leaving the car and hitting the moor - so thanks again to the Highland cattle, you created a very worthy diversion.

Honey-buzzards and more - Wykeham, late May '25

A quick one from, ooh, the weekend before this last one.... after guiding the lovely folk of Harrogate RSPB at Filey and then staying over on the coast, I dropped in at Wykeham Raptor Viewpoint for a while in the hope of a look at the newly-arrived Honey-buzzards.

 

It turned out to be a really lovely session with a disperate bunch of fellow birders from all over, there for the same reasons - and over the course of a few hours, we had some fabulous fly-bys and drama from a total of three birds (two females and a male), as well as interactions with Common Buzzards and Ravens.

As well as the HB show, there was plenty to enjoy - about 70 Crossbills (clearly a good breeding season), lots of Siskins, a Willow Tit, five Ravens, lots of the commoner raptors, singing Tree Pipit, a couple of Redpolls and plenty of Willow Warblers among a supporting cast.