At this "in-between" time of the year us oop in't North are eagerly hoping for the migrants to turn up soon. Well, a tiny thing last night ( thanks to the dog and the Essential Last Empty-Out Walk)( You can no doubt envisage why it's called that) was at about 10:10 pm ... 3 calling Curlews went over high up, and in an Easterly Direction. Well well. Off t'moors I reckon. A lovely sound anyway. But what's all that about a Wily Wood Warbler in the title ? Well, I was leafing through my "records", such as they are, of migrant arrivals ... with some interesting results. Here's the 1st arrival dates for Wood Warblers along my "Local Patch Waterway" along which I would walk a previous dog ( Holly) most every (v. early) morning ..... so all these are just for that little ultra-local patch .... but they are startling, and reflect what has happened in the wider area... which at the time, was Lancaster, suburbs of.... Wood Warbler Arrival Dates 1992 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 10-5 2-5 2-5 8-5 29-4 7-5 3-5 - and no more - for ever after ! Yes, every year for 7 years a Wood Warbler would turn up , sing for a few days, and then bog off . People would actually twitch it "for the year" when I put it on the local site. It wasn't of course, the same one each year .... But ... Wood Warblers disappeared ..well, almost ... and they're very scarce for many many miles around nowadays. As are Garden Warblers .... they used to turn up in my garden years ago ...in fact I ringed one ...they're as rare as rarities nowadays, and have been for ages. One turned up this late spring about 20 miles away and everyone went for it. Here's their " canal turn-up times" in those halcyon days ... Garden Warbler Arrival Dates 1992 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '99 13-5 17-4 16-5 10-5 24-4 10-5 3-5 none none .... and none for ever after And here's Spot Fly records ... blimey, they fell off the radar like shit down a drain... Spot Fly arrival dates ..... 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 18-6 - 28-5 - 19-5 8-5 31-5 10-6 and no more, no never nohow. So there we have it. This year, if you remember, it was Swallows that were noticeably both late and absent. Make of that what you will. Now this is a conker of a song ... Indochine ... Le baiser .... and there's a "singalong" words video after it, you jammy lot....
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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