Thursday 12 April 2012

Going Gaga After a Whistlestop Tour

I took my nephew to see a duck he'd never seen before - the Garganey at Tophill Low. He seemed quite impressed, so goodness knows what he'd have thought of the view the Thurs am group had at Far Ings about 3 years ago! Unfortunately, he incorrectly expected a wasp in every hide, so we had to cut our Tophill visit short, especially as it was just about to tip it down. At least I heard & saw my first Willow Warblers of 2012.

We cut across country to the Kiplingcotes area, but apart from a few Yellowhammers, there was little to see here. After a packed lunch outside Rifle Butts' Quarry we continued to Allerthorpe Common. Again this was rather poor, and because of threatening clouds his fear of wasps was replaced by an allergy to thunderstorms, so we had to cut that visit short too. At least the first twittering Swallow of the spring was a welcome sound & sight. We were going to check on the Bluebells in North Cliffe Wood, but the clouds still threatened, so we returned to home earlier & I was freed from his allergies - hope he doesn't grow into any more as the teenage years are just round the corner!

Garganey - if only today's had been as close as this!
Garganey - as we actually saw it
ditto
Midges

No comments: