Howardian Hills – Sunday 11th June

Five of us met this morning at Welburn church and walked from there into the Castle Howard estate. It was a warm, later very warm, morning, but still with enough birds singing and active to keep us occupied. An early highlight was a singing Cuckoo heard just NE of Welburn; I don’t see or hear many in the York area nowadays, so it was good to hear that one.

Bird of the day was a Raven which cronked its way in the direction of the mausoleum. Quite a few Buzzards were active (a photo of one is attached) and there were 2 Red Kites, 1 Sparrowhawk and at least 4 Kestrels. Other birds were largely ones to be expected, with 47 species in the woodland and farmland, including some good views of Tree Sparrows at one point. Another ten species were added in a look at the lake in the afternoon, though that figure does not include the escaped Ferruginous Duck which is still present.

My thanks to everyone for their company and the contributions to the sightings. We tried without success for Redstarts and flycatchers, but it was a very pleasant walk in a beautiful part of the Club area.

Paul Doherty