Having been on a Baildon Moor walk with Bradford Urban Wildlife Group I fancied a few more times up there. So four trip later, I have some photos. The stars of the 27th were the Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat. The star of the 28th was the Wheatear. The star of the 29th were the Swallows, or perhaps the singing Skylark up in the sky. (Pink Floyd, Goodbye Blue Sky, The Wall, 1979) The star of the 30th was the Green Hairstreak butterfly.
The header image is a perched Swallow with one incoming. Taken at Faweather.
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Grasshopper Warbler, Whitethroat & Lapwing
I heard the Grasshopper Warbler before seeing it. While I was watching it it opened its beak and a few seconds later I heard the reeling, but very quiet. It was if the song had drifted around the Moor before getting to me. I have had a look at a couple of websites to check on when they normally arrive and one saddening piece of information was:-
As we get older the first part of the hearing to deteriorate is the exact pitch the grasshopper warbler sings at! Sad to think most of us will stop hearing them at some stage in our lives.
I seem to be missing the song of Goldcrest too.
Both the Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat were very good at disappearing into the Brambles and low vegetation.
The Lapwing were flying around to protect their nests from passing Crows and Gulls but the most worrying to me would be the sheep. From the photos it looks as though the Lapwing stays on its nest until the last second but that is enough to get the sheep to avoid stepping on them.
Wheatear & Swallows
Wheatear are a rather smart passage migrant. They stop off to refuel on Baildon Moor on their way from Africa to their more Northern breeding grounds. I have spotted several this year but they have all been a fair distance away. In the past I have seen them on the golf course.
The Swallows though were quite close and didn’t seem worried about me pointing my camera at them. It looks as though they are nesting in the barns at Faweather.
It is easier to get photos of slow, gliding Buzzards or Red Kite than it is of Swallows zipping about.
I managed to get this shot of a Skylark just as it started to ascend. If I had waited much more it would just be a dot in the sky with me struggling to even get sight of it. I assume that one of the reasons for the difficulty is that your eyes will be focused on the clouds or far distance and the little bird is simply a blurry dot.
Green Hairstreak
Going from small dots in the sky to small dots on the plants. The Green Hairstreak butterflies are small and green but they don’t quite match the green of the Bilberry plant. Also they tend to turn themselves so that their wing is full-on facing the sun so they catch the light.
The singing Chaffinch, with its tongue sticking out, and the Wren were tuneful. From different parts of the fields male Pheasant kept rearing up, flaping their wings and making their call. The Curlew on the ground were quiet but several were coming in to land making their eerie call. The Reed Bunting, Stonechat, Song Thrush, and Kestrel were quiet.
I don’t remember noticing it in the past but small clumps of Horsetail were growing near Bingley Road.
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