Dawn Chorus
Oh dear, where has the time gone? It's been two weeks since I made an entry in my blog. Rather than try to back track and make post dated entries I will just pick up here and run with it.
My alarm went off at 4 a.m. this morning. I dragged myself out of bed around 4:20 looked out the window and saw that it was wet but no longer raining. I popped in the shower and got dressed. Why so early? This morning the Harrogate RSPB local group has scheduled a bird outing. It's called Dawn Chorus and will be led by a local bird expert, Mike Brown from the British Ornithological Trust. Last night I saw that rain was predicted for today so I told myself I would get up early and if it was not raining I'd go. Well, by the time I had gotten ready and was heading out the door it had begun to rain again. I thought, "ah hell, I've gotten this far, I might as well go and see who else is crazy enough to show up for this walk."
As I approached the parking area on Harlow Moor Road I was surprised to see quite a few cars parked there. As it turns out only five of the dozen or so cars belonged to birders. The other folk, we speculated, were out hiking in the rain. At least we had a purpose! Mike admitted he'd not expected anyone to show up for the walk and was pleased to guide us die-hards through Birk Woods and on up to Birk Crag. The light rain turned to heavier rain as we made our way through the woods. As we walked along Mike would tell us which birds were making which calls. He even predicted with great accuracy what birds we would here in certain areas of the wood. I had my hood over my head to shelter from the rain but this made it difficult to hear both Mike and the birds as the hood covered my ears, plus there was the noise of the rain pounding on my hood. I have great difficulty distinguishing different bird calls and struggled to hear the difference between a great tit and a chiffchaff, between a song thrush and a blackbird, but after a while I did begin to notice slight subtleties in the birds' phrasings. We heard but did not see a black cap and garden warbler. Their songs are very similar but the black cap uses short phrases and has a clearer sound. The garden warbler trills on and on and is fainter sounding, maybe because it likes dense cover high up while the black cap stays down low and is more exposed. In one area of the wood we heard a wood warbler. The others finally found him with their binocs but I was unsuccessful for the longest time. It wasn't until we returned to the same spot on our way out of the wood that I caught sight of the wood warbler. It is a delicate little thing with subtle markings and a sweet song. Mike said he is rather a rare sight in these parts and seeing him made traipsing around in the rain all worth it. As we made our way up to Birk Crag we heard a willow warbler, but i never caught sight of him. I heard some jays and only caught fleeting glimpses of them. There was not much of a view from Birk Crag it was so misty. You can get glorious views from that vantage point but not today, though I thought the mist incredibly beautiful. We descended Birk Crag and walked along the river hoping to see some dippers but they remained elusive or just weren't there at all today. We got back to our cars a little after 8 a.m. -- too early even to go to Bettys for breakfast. I drove back home and fixed myself a hearty breakfast of eggs, mushrooms and toast. I felt I deserved it.
My alarm went off at 4 a.m. this morning. I dragged myself out of bed around 4:20 looked out the window and saw that it was wet but no longer raining. I popped in the shower and got dressed. Why so early? This morning the Harrogate RSPB local group has scheduled a bird outing. It's called Dawn Chorus and will be led by a local bird expert, Mike Brown from the British Ornithological Trust. Last night I saw that rain was predicted for today so I told myself I would get up early and if it was not raining I'd go. Well, by the time I had gotten ready and was heading out the door it had begun to rain again. I thought, "ah hell, I've gotten this far, I might as well go and see who else is crazy enough to show up for this walk."
As I approached the parking area on Harlow Moor Road I was surprised to see quite a few cars parked there. As it turns out only five of the dozen or so cars belonged to birders. The other folk, we speculated, were out hiking in the rain. At least we had a purpose! Mike admitted he'd not expected anyone to show up for the walk and was pleased to guide us die-hards through Birk Woods and on up to Birk Crag. The light rain turned to heavier rain as we made our way through the woods. As we walked along Mike would tell us which birds were making which calls. He even predicted with great accuracy what birds we would here in certain areas of the wood. I had my hood over my head to shelter from the rain but this made it difficult to hear both Mike and the birds as the hood covered my ears, plus there was the noise of the rain pounding on my hood. I have great difficulty distinguishing different bird calls and struggled to hear the difference between a great tit and a chiffchaff, between a song thrush and a blackbird, but after a while I did begin to notice slight subtleties in the birds' phrasings. We heard but did not see a black cap and garden warbler. Their songs are very similar but the black cap uses short phrases and has a clearer sound. The garden warbler trills on and on and is fainter sounding, maybe because it likes dense cover high up while the black cap stays down low and is more exposed. In one area of the wood we heard a wood warbler. The others finally found him with their binocs but I was unsuccessful for the longest time. It wasn't until we returned to the same spot on our way out of the wood that I caught sight of the wood warbler. It is a delicate little thing with subtle markings and a sweet song. Mike said he is rather a rare sight in these parts and seeing him made traipsing around in the rain all worth it. As we made our way up to Birk Crag we heard a willow warbler, but i never caught sight of him. I heard some jays and only caught fleeting glimpses of them. There was not much of a view from Birk Crag it was so misty. You can get glorious views from that vantage point but not today, though I thought the mist incredibly beautiful. We descended Birk Crag and walked along the river hoping to see some dippers but they remained elusive or just weren't there at all today. We got back to our cars a little after 8 a.m. -- too early even to go to Bettys for breakfast. I drove back home and fixed myself a hearty breakfast of eggs, mushrooms and toast. I felt I deserved it.
posted by lenora at 6:53 AM
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