You’re joining me and my dad this week as we wander along a meandering path on the Yorkshire Moors. The heather that surrounds us is in full bloom. As the clouds scud across the sky, the pink-purple hue of the hills leaps in and out of shadow.
At first, it seems as though we are the only living things here aside from the plants and heather flies. The heather flies are mid-sized black flies with long, dangling legs – close relatives of the St Marks flies that adorn the hawthorn hedges in Springtime.
A few sheep raise their heads as we crunch past on the stony path, momentarily giving their location away before dropping out of sight to browse or sleep.
But far ahead, and even further upwards, there are birds. Rapid, aerodynamic birds - Swallows and Martins. And once you get your eye in, the sky is dotted with birds of prey, too. We count four Kestrels that seem more intent on chasing each other than hunting.
A larger bird crests the hill beside us, easily the biggest Red Kite we’ve ever seen.
A weird, chattering call unlike any I’ve ever heard starts up under her flight path. No time to get the Merlin app on it, because the source of the sound – a rather plump, dark coloured bird – has just leapt into the air to fly clumsily away from danger, with a few friends in tow.
They’re not Pheasant or Partridge, I know those calls. Could this be the lifer my dad and I had discussed ‘probably not’ seeing just a few moments before we started the walk?
As the birds sail away I can’t get my camera on them, and they disappear over the hill. But as we stand, staring at where they had just been, a dark shape breaks up the silhouetted heather that frames the horizon. A little face is staring right back at us.
My first proper Red Grouse. Do you remember when you first saw one (if you have) – other than in an advert for whisky, of course?
It turns out to be the first of many. Dad points out some just a few metres away, and their incredibly effective camouflage evades my cameras autofocus. There are two birds in the photo below and despite the easiness of the shot, neither are fully in focus. Their plumage is some of the most intricate and beautiful I’ve ever seen.
If you’re looking for ground-nesting birds, what you really need is a good harrier. And I am (naively) surprised to see one. A juvenile Marsh Harrier appeared, rushing over the heather; a species that – until today – I had only ever seen hunting over reedbeds.
The Red Grouse are obligingly harried - 35 more take off and make their way across the hillside.
After a long, hot summer down South, we have forgotten that rainclouds are not just a novelty - they’re also full of rain. And we’re surrounded. We turn back, and realise we’ve covered much more ground than we thought. Each time we had turned a corner: “Just one more, I want to get a look at that rocky outcrop/gulley/bush” - and then the next, and the next…
On the return journey, there’s one more treat. The butterflies! My first Small Copper, and my second Clouded Yellow.
Finally, we reach the carpark. It’s almost impossible to get into the car, turn on the sat nav and drive away – until, that is, the first drops of rain I’ve seen in weeks start to fall.
Thanks for joining me. What have you seen while I’ve been lost among the pink heather?
Gem
Lovely
I love that scenery and it’s special bird community. Always a pleasure to be there. :)