Great Burnet, Sanguisorba Officinalis Sunbeams illuminate flowers on the embankment. The white plume of a parachute seed-head is arrested in flight. Sunlight and overnight dew reveal strands of spider silk strung between the flowers of great burnet, its petals of deep crimson bright as blood, great burnet, Sanguisorba Officinalis. An evocative name. Along the embankment of the disused railway there are drifts of great burnet and field scabious and vistas of the packhorse bridge over Scandal Beck.
Bloody crane's-bill, Geranium sanguineum, is a speciality of Smardale. Its flowering season is almost done, the last flowers rather faded. Delighted to find stone bramble. Rubus saxatilis. Small clusters of its glossy red berries are half--concealed in vegetation, low to the ground.
The young kestrel call incessantly, begging for food. Three young birds peer from a shadowy stone recess. The platform of the stone niche is strewn with twigs and strands of vegetation. The adult kestrel does not build a nest but has brought in a scatter of bedding. There will be fragments of field vole, mouse or shrew littering the stone platform and one of the young scratches and shakes as if to be rid of infestation. Insects hover by the nest cavity. I see them on my video where I can study and admire the three young kestrel at leisure. Their nursery chamber faces south but it is not exposed to the full glare of the sun because of trees and surrounding hillside. Low pressure sets in for the next few days, with heavy showers predicted and their stone niche will protect the young birds although it may be more difficult for the adults to hunt for prey.
The female kestrel lays 4-5 eggs in April or May and the chicks hatch a month later. They will spend five weeks in this stone cavity before fledgling. The young birds flex their wings, stretch out and flap to strengthen their muscles, wing-tips to the ground for balance. The nest is infested but instinct tells them to try to keep it clean. A chick shuffles forward, turns, lifts its tail and ejects a squirt of white. The dominant chick, portly and puffed up, teeters near the edge its wing over the drop, pulls back, turns to show the barred tail of a female, tail up and squirts shit over the stonework which is dribbled with it. Their body plumage transitions between down and feathers, mottled and muted colours, ripples of brown. Dark moustaches on each chick. A barring of the tail of the young females. Piercing eyes and a sharp raptor bill that shows white from the shadows, guiding the adult to the chick's gape. Three hungry chicks to feed and on the second day the adult kestrels visit the nest more frequently, fast in and out to deliver prey. At this stage of their development the adult female will hunt too, not far from the nest. Once the young fledge and leave the nest they will return to their stone chamber to roost and the adults will be with them for a month, teaching them to hunt.
What a privilege to visit Smardale on two consecutive days, to look deep into a kestrel’s stone breeding chamber. If all goes well she may use this site again.
The female kestrel lays 4-5 eggs in April or May and the chicks hatch a month later. They will spend five weeks in this stone cavity before fledgling. The young birds flex their wings, stretch out and flap to strengthen their muscles, wing-tips to the ground for balance. The nest is infested but instinct tells them to try to keep it clean. A chick shuffles forward, turns, lifts its tail and ejects a squirt of white. The dominant chick, portly and puffed up, teeters near the edge its wing over the drop, pulls back, turns to show the barred tail of a female, tail up and squirts shit over the stonework which is dribbled with it. Their body plumage transitions between down and feathers, mottled and muted colours, ripples of brown. Dark moustaches on each chick. A barring of the tail of the young females. Piercing eyes and a sharp raptor bill that shows white from the shadows, guiding the adult to the chick's gape. Three hungry chicks to feed and on the second day the adult kestrels visit the nest more frequently, fast in and out to deliver prey. At this stage of their development the adult female will hunt too, not far from the nest. Once the young fledge and leave the nest they will return to their stone chamber to roost and the adults will be with them for a month, teaching them to hunt.
What a privilege to visit Smardale on two consecutive days, to look deep into a kestrel’s stone breeding chamber. If all goes well she may use this site again.
Scotch argus are flying, it's their peak-flight time. Today is hotter than yesterday so they're more animated. Here is the best site for Scotch argus and with butterflies all around us I have to keep reminding myself how fortunate we are to see them. Folk have come here from across the UK for this display.
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