Redstart in breeding plumage 7 May 2017 The redstart sings from a slender white-beam, its leaf buds bursting. His song carries loud along the escarpment edge, eager to attract females who arrive a few days later. As the sun rises higher in the sky it dispels shadows in the hanging wood below. Runners and dog walkers arrive and the redstart will dip out of sight and sing invisible, tantalising, from sunlit tree-tops directly below the cliff- top. For the last ten years I've heard redstart singing from this tree. They're faithful to site and I wonder how many lineages of redstart have claimed this territory.
Redstart favour oak woods, with nest holes in the mature oaks of Helsington Barrows where I here them singing. The cliff-face of Scout Scar escarpment and trees anchored in the cliff are ideal nest sites too. They're inaccessible.
Whilst redstart are recently arrived from Africa the stonechat I found early in spring have fledglings. An alarm call from high in a hawthorn showed the female and her mate echoed her warning from a bush close by. So glad to know they have young. Stonechat numbers on Scout Scar have fallen dramatically and to have them breed is good news. I hear linnet all around me. Once again there are lesser redpoll in flight but they're restless birds and difficult to see.
Whilst redstart are recently arrived from Africa the stonechat I found early in spring have fledglings. An alarm call from high in a hawthorn showed the female and her mate echoed her warning from a bush close by. So glad to know they have young. Stonechat numbers on Scout Scar have fallen dramatically and to have them breed is good news. I hear linnet all around me. Once again there are lesser redpoll in flight but they're restless birds and difficult to see.
Sunday 7 May 2017. For me, Super Sunday. All week the wind has been from the NE/ NNE, cold and blustery, with an increasingly clear light. I've been out and about exploring, taking photographs- specific images for my archive. Trying to interpret what I'm seeing is fascinating. I made for that iconic white-beam to photograph redstart, trusting to the birds being site-faithful, and so they are. The perch is open, good to photograph. I had thought my best chance of being undisturbed by runners, walkers and dogs was to be there early, say 6.00am. But when I arrived at that hour there was no sign of redstart. Both mornings were blustery and there had been an overnight frost. I reckon they need sunlight spilling into the tree-tops, over the cliff and into the hanging wood. There's a narrow window of opportunity if you want to see them and hear them singing: early May- once the females arrive and they begin to nest their behaviour changes and they become more secretive.
After that, on Super Sunday, came orange-tip butterflies and green-veined whites. I came home with so many images.
It has taken me years to achieve these redstart images. Enjoy them here and respect copyright.
After that, on Super Sunday, came orange-tip butterflies and green-veined whites. I came home with so many images.
It has taken me years to achieve these redstart images. Enjoy them here and respect copyright.
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