wgeoff 20/04/2014 15:11
West Yorkshire Spring
Out yesterday with my son at the bird reserves in West Yorkshire, UK, I was astonished to find three breeding plumage Black-necked Grebes at St Aidan's
[img]http://www.geoffwelch46.com/BNGREBE40.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.geoffwelch46.com/BNGREBE41.jpg[/img]
Locals told me this species is now a regular breeder in the area - a great change since my birdwatching days here in the 1980's.
So I checked breeding distribution changes on the BTO website and sure enough, this species now breeds far south from it's previous small range in south Scotland - the changes are indicated on this map, with previous sites in black and new sites in red
[img]http://www.geoffwelch46.com/BNGREBEUKMAP.jpg[/img]
Also Bitterns booming at two sites, another big change from the 1980's
[img]http://www.geoffwelch46.com/BITTERNUKMAP.jpg[/img]
You can find all these maps at the website
[url]http://blx1.bto.org/mapstore/StoreServlet[/url]
Many spring migrants around, this has been an early and good spring in UK, including Northern Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Common Tern, Northern House Martin, Sand Martin and the following, Chiffchaff (UK style) - note the black legs, Willow Warbler - note the pale legs - and Garganey.
[img]http://www.geoffwelch46.com/CHIFFCHAFF40.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.geoffwelch46.com/WWARBLER40.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.geoffwelch46.com/GARGANEY40.jpg[/img]
A good day out on a warm and sunny spring day
[[i] Last edited by wgeoff at 20/04/2014 16:04 [/i]]