Less than 48 hours left.....

.... before the race, and one last target change before then. This time on Sunday, I'll be (hopefully) well into the East Yorkshire Half-marathon, and hopefully - with your help - I'll have hit my final target for Swifts. 

 DONATE HERE!

So I'm just a couple of hundred quid shy of three grand - that's THREE YEARS worth of funds covering all Leeds Swifts rescue, rehab and release costs with enough left over to install Swift boxes at local Schools!

This is the last time I'll be bumping up my target (honest!), so if you want to directly help these magical birds (and the magical people that help them), now's the time. It takes less than a minute to donate, HERE. THANK YOU!

Running for Swifts - only a week to go!

Ok folks, a quick update. Firstly, the running: By this time next week, I'll (hopefully) have completed the East Yorkshire Half-marathon; today, then, was my last 'long run' before then (a few more short ones to go) - a 15km run into the city, via The Shambles (above) and Minster (below), and back. The good news is, my pace was good.... 

 DONATE HERE!

... the bad, I've got a minor right hip issue, as well as two blisters on the side of my soles (wrong sock-and-shoe combination, evidently...). Big thanks to the lovely guys who run the Londis at the corner of Haxby Road and White Cross Road, who kindly gave me plasters for free mid-run!!

The fundraising? Great. So many donations, so many lovely people.... Very, very inspiring, thank you all so much! We passed the (revised) £2000 target yesterday, and are only about £350 off 2.5K - so, with less than a week to go, I've revised it up again! Why? Well, look no further than these pictures. Every penny goes to the fabulous folk of Leeds Swifts, to assist their incredible voluntary work helping these incredible birds.

It's easy to forget in this day and age that good people teaming up in the community can do wonderful, lasting things. That's what Leeds Swifts are all about, and that's why I'm hoping you've got some loose change handy - it only takes a minute to donate by clicking HERE.

THANK YOU!

North Killingholme, 12th June '26

A busy week of guiding and surveying, culminating in a long but pleasant day on the south bank of the Humber at North Killingholme, my longest-serving site (I've been surveying here for many years now).

Not a great deal to report, but the bushes were positively bursting with recently-fledged young 'uns - mostly tits and warblers - which in itself was a joy;

Even in this most industrial of settings, the flowers were equally bursting with life and colour - especially both White and Goldmoss (Biting) Stonecrop, extensive mats of which crept over the concrete track and along the seawall (see below).

(I also managed an 8km run between counts to keep my training up - only a week or so to go.....)

Industrial-strength Lapwings

Going back a couple of weeks, I arrived at my usual survey spot along the riverside track at North Killingholme on the Southern bank of the Humber, driving (thankfully) slowly as I caught sight of several fluffballs disappearing into the grassy verge.....

Stopping the car, I was soon confronted by four (very) young Lapwing chicks, a noisily attendant mother and a fairly close-by father, on the track in front of me. The problem was, to one side was a steep ditch, and to the other, a metre-high wall cutting off access to the saltmarsh, all the way along the track.....

So I figured the best bet was to try and slowly shepherd them along the track and into the only wider opening (a disused industrial field) a little further along. Before I could do so, however, I heard engines behind me - very rare along the (private) track, where I usually encounter no other vehicles all day.

With particularly bad timing*, two tractors and a pick up truck approached behind me - EA vehicles, there to mow the entire banks, including the areas where the Lapwings were - and there began what turned out to be much of the day spent as a personal security detail for this special young family.

The EA work continued at distance, dog walkers were repelled with sign language, and periodically I tried to usher the chicks onto the safety of the open area; but every time I thought I'd succeeded, mom called them back along the track, seemingly unable to work out why they couldn't get through a concrete wall and onto the saltmarsh...

Aside from that, one of the chicks was particularly unruly, and one many occasions ran straight towards me, viewing my legs, and car, as the perfect safe haven.

Long story (and day) short: they were all present and correct, and as close to the open area as I could get them, when I had to leave late in the day - here's hoping their luck continued beyond.

(*Actually, very good timing - if I'd arrived minutes later, it would likely have been a very different ending....)

Fundraising for Leeds Swifts - less than two weeks to go......

18km training run yesterday, incorporating the city walls here in York.... 

Time flies when you're trying to get in shape for a half-marathon, and here we are, less than a fortnight away....

So, a quick update. Fundraising is going great, and after just a week, we surpassed my target of £1000; as of this afternoon (Monday 8th) we're over £1600 - a reflection of the wonderful folk who've contributed (that's you), and the absolute angels who voluntarily run Leeds Swifts, a more-than-worthy cause.  DONATE HERE!

Training? So far, so good. I started significantly later than my last (first) half-marathon two years ago, and I was in better nick back then, but I'm clocking the kilometres, building up my stamina and I'm roughly on track - an 18km run  yesterday (my longest since, well, the aforementioned half-marathon), and while I'm seriously wiped out, I can still just about move. Just.

Swift nest boxes installed by Leeds Swifts - with their appreciative occupants!

As it stands, we've made to cover almost two years of Swift rehab costs - almost! - but we're a few hundred quid short....

Any chance you could spare a few quid? The next time you look up at these magical birds, you'll have a warm feeling of connection and satisfaction, I promise....! DONATE HERE

Cairn Gorm - School of Birding, May '26

We were hoping - with varying degrees of realism, according to the ever-changing mountain forecast - to make it up the funicular railway and onto the near-summit at some point during the week, but expectations were low... 

 

.... but finally we saw a break, and to everyone's joy (guides included) we found ourselves hiking up beyond the restaurant and along the snowy tracks.

We didn't go far, and didn't need to; being just below the summit on the northern side gave us some protection from a south-westerly wind, and we were very fortunate to have periods of brightness between cloud banks (and no rainstorms, which passed us by on both sides).

 

What about our targets? We'd tempered expectations, and would take anything we got. Ptarmigan would be great result; Dotterel even more so, with none yet reported and snow cover potentially displacing them. Mountain Hares, Ring Ouzel and Snow Bunting were all also possible, but we didn't want to be too greedy....

Long story short, we effectively cleaned up. Mountain Hares first, followed by Ptarmigan, and then the undisputed stars of the show - four Dotterel, which we watched for an extended period as the fed on a stony plateau, getting closer and closer to us as we lapped them up. I've seen plenty of Dotterel in plenty of places, but this is the first time i've seen them in their wild, evocative breeding habitat - breathtaking.

A brief burst of Snow Bunting song as we watched them was as good as it got for that species (can't win 'em all, eh), but with a cracking male Ring Ouzel and more Ptarmigan from the viewing areas by the restaurant, it was a very happy group that descended on the railway back to the car park. What a day!