Swallows don’t make a summer at Stanwick Lakes

Yesterday produced my first Swallow of the year at Stanwick Lakes.  Spring is ticking slowly along. This Swallow was a little bit later than my earliest records but well within the range, according to my records from Birdtrack. It still feels as though spring is a bit unsprung to me though. And it certainly felt…

Massive payment

  I’m not complaining at all – but those who seem to think that writing books (at least writing my books!) is the easy route to riches might like to help me decide how to spend these royalty payments for 2017 for Birds and Forestry, A Message from Martha and Inglorious. What this does mean…

Some firsts

I heard my first Sedge Warbler of the year at Stanwick Lakes yesterday – and it wasn’t my only ‘first’. The weather forecast was a bit rubbish but it wasn’t raining when I made some tea at 0630 and so the aim was to get to Stanwick Lakes before the rain started. I almost didn’t…

Paul Leyland – Orange Tip

Paul writes: Orange-tip is a great early spring butterfly. It is one of the first butterflies to emerge that hasn’t over-wintered as an adult, so is always beautifully fresh at this time of year. In Yorkshire, over the last ten years, the first sighting has ranged from 22 March in 2011, to 23 April in…