Heslington York
I was working and my Birdguides app was pinging and pinging and pinging. Without looking I had no choice but to silence the phone. I was installing some signs at another nature reserve just over the border in Wales. It can be very frustrating, especially on a bank holiday when your app pings and a bird you really want to see, often a real rarity but you just can't get there.
We were joined by four students, young people with a real passion for wildlife, even in this horrendous weather they were positive, I soon knocked that out of them.
This particular bird was one I have seen before but in Spain and a real beauty for me. Their usual breeding grounds are Africa and Eurasia, they often form large noisy groups in fact very noisy especially when alarmed by predators or humans. These three were in York, near the university in Heslington, literally a few hundred metres from my daughters home.
I have seen many images of this bird basking in the sunshine, but for me there was to be no sun. As we were walking towards the bird hide which is quite a way from the birds we realised that a fence that had been put there some time ago, was still there. And the rain was getting much much heavier. My little warm but definitely not waterproof coat was breached in nanoseconds and water was getting into, well everywhere!
If you watch the video below you will be able to see the rain bouncing at least two feet of the water (I'm not prone to exaggeration) and this rain was going up my trouser legs! We were joined by four students, young people with a real passion for wildlife, even in this horrendous weather they were positive, I soon knocked that out of them hahaha.
I have seen many images of this bird basking in the sunshine, but for me there was to be no sun. As we were walking towards the bird hide which is quite a way from the birds we realised that a fence that had been put there some time ago, was still there. And the rain was getting much much heavier. My little warm but definitely not waterproof coat was breached in nanoseconds and water was getting into, well everywhere!
If you watch the video below you will be able to see the rain bouncing at least two feet of the water (I'm not prone to exaggeration) and this rain was going up my trouser legs! We were joined by four students, young people with a real passion for wildlife, even in this horrendous weather they were positive, I soon knocked that out of them hahaha.
Black Winged Stilt.
Three Black Winged Stilt, this really is a beautiful striking bird. Latin Name Himantopus Himantopus, how cool is that.
