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Wildlife Sightings April 2015
Mon 4th May, 2015
April 2015 provided great weather for incoming migrant birds and emerging insects! Temperatures in Leeds never fell below 8° and rose to 19° on the 10th, 21st and 23rd. An excellent count of 14 Brimstone and 8 Comma butterflies in Pickering Woods and the North Yorkshire Forests by the Wold Ecology/YCN team on the 5th heralded a mass emergence of commoner species such as Peacock in the same week.
Comma © Dan Lombard
South-easterly winds brought back migrant birds with Ring Ouzels and Firecrests stealing the show. These summer migrants mingled with winter long-stayers such as the spectacularly showy Rough-legged Buzzard which was still travelling the cliff tops between Buckton and Flamborough. Also hanging around were the four Red-necked Grebes at Sewerby and two Great Northern Divers off Hunmanby.
In recent years the Yorkshire coast has been blessed by a travelling pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins. Up to 50 have been recorded in the North Sea by researchers keeping an eye on the NE Scotland population. Up to 18 visited us on the 9th all the way from the Real Staithes boat to Flamborough and many points between, a fabulous sight! Birders on the cliffs were also well rewarded on the 11th by an Alpine Swift at Flamborough.
Bottle-nosed Dolphins Flamborough © Craig Thomas
Ancient woods are wonderful places for wild flowers, especially in April, and this year was a bumper time for violets, saxifrage, Wood Anemone, Primrose and many more. Toothwort is a parasite on the roots of Hazel and Alder and completely lacking in chlorophyll. It is found throughout Europe but is nowhere very common, so we were very pleased to find one in Pickering Woods early in the month. The first Yorkshire Orchids are out! Green-winged Orchids had a good month with over 100 counted in one Yorkshire Wold dale!
Green-winged Orchid © Dan Lombard
Toothwort © Richard Baines
A bumper night in a Hunmanby moth trap on the 15th brought a Red Sword-grass, plenty of Streamers and a locally rare White-marked. Many common migrant birds joined the local movement; on this day over 1,000 Meadow Pipits were counted over the nearby Filey Bird Observatory area! A Little Bunting was a great find the same day at Flamborough.
Red Sword-grass Hunmanby © Dan Lombard
Little Bunting Flamborough © Aleksejs Kurockins
Mandarin Ducks are an increasing sight in Yorks. A beautiful bird and still rare at the local Bird Observatories so visiting birds at Flamborough in late March and and Spurn mid-April were welcome additions to local birders’ site lists! Green Woodpeckers were also unusual sightings at coastal migration stations; recorded at both Flamborough and Spurn. The latter site is the best place to see a Serin in Yorkshire with three recorded in that area this month. Bird of the month at Spurn Bird Observatory must go to the Black Kite which flew north on the 22nd.
The Humber Estuary is a fantastic place for wading birds. Two species counts were smashed at Spurn in April with an incredible 20,000 Dunlin counted alongside 2,730 Grey Plover on the 27th!
By the month end Orange Tips were on the wing with Green Hairstreak butterflies alongside Willow Warblers, Cuckoos, Garden Warblers, Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats. On the YCN National Park Safari of 26th April we even managed to find singing Ring Ouzels and Redstarts on the same stone wall! The month ended with spectacular views of a beautiful Red-rumped Swallow over the newly-created (by Flamborough Bird Observatory and Thornwick Holidays) Thornwick Pools.
Red-rumped Swallow © Craig Thomas
Willow Warbler Filey © Mark Pearson
Cuckoo © Mark Pearson