HIGHLIGHTS for February were two long-staying birds in the Nosterfield area.

The first was a Long-tailed Duck which originally appeared on Lingham Lake in late January and was still present at the time of writing.

This handsome little seaduck has only been reported in this area on a handful of occasions but despite the long-stay it could be surprisingly elusive and I for one have still to catch up with it.

This bird was joined by an equally scarce visitor from the 8th with the appearance of a Red-necked Grebe on Flask Lake. The rarest of the five “regular” grebes in this area, the Red-necked looks rather like a smaller, darknecked version of the Great- Crested Grebe in its dull winter plumage. However, as spring approaches, it moults into its handsome breeding plumage with a rufous neck contrasting sharply with white cheeks and a yellow bill.

Other birds of note at Nosterfield included Stonechat, Jack Snipe, Red-breasted Merganser and, in what has been a very quiet winter for the rarer gulls, sightings of Glaucous, Iceland and Yellow- legged Gull. The reserve also attracted regular sightings of Buzzard (right) with up to eight birds seen together.

The expansion and spread of the Buzzard opulation in recent years has been quite remarkable and looking at the early results of the British Trust for Ornithology’s atlas data shows the bird now present in virtually all areas of England with the exception of the flat lands of Lincolnshire and The Wash.

A good movement of Pinkfooted Geese was noted between the 19th-21st with more than 450 birds recorded over Nosterfield, 61 counted flying over Ainderby Steeple, 23 at Bolton-on-Swale, 28 in the Newsham/Thorpe Farm area and over 100 near Thirsk.

Whooper Swans were also on the move with small herds seen at Thorpe Farm pools (five birds), near Crakehall (seven), Nosterfield (six) and in their regular site near Kirby Fleetham (five birds).

The best place to see this latter flock is from the minor road which leads out to the A1 from Kirby Fleetham.

The birds are usually feeding out in the fields to the southwest of the T-junction with the Leeming Bar road.

Waxwings too were still making their presence felt with an impressive flock of 75 birds on the northern edge of Catterick, up to 20 on Darlington Road, Richmond, a small group in the Boroughbridge Road/Harewood Lane area of Northallerton and smaller numbers at Masham, Nosterfield and Skeeby. As berries becomes scarcer any remnant areas will become even more attractive to the species so if you have retained a good crop of cotoneaster or similar fruit there is still a chance you will get a surprise visit from this charismatic species.

Incidentally a few years ago a group of 500 Waxwings were present through much of the winter in Belfast and through timed counts etc.

they made an estimate of the number of berries consumed by this flock. It came out at a remarkable 25 million!

Other sightings of note in February included four Whitefronted Geese in the Newsham ponds/Thorpe Farm area with four more seen at Bolton-on-Swale.

Bolton also attracted up to 14 Ruff and a Mediterranean Gull. Barn Owls were seen at Hutton Magna and Nosterfield and there were reports of a Ruddy Shelduck and Short-eared Owl at Pepper Arden.

Looking ahead to March we should see the arrival of the first “proper” summer migrants.

Little Ringed Plovers, Sand Martins, Wheatears and Ring Ouzels should all have their first appearance by month end and there is a good chance of an early Swallow too. Amazingly, there have already been small flocks of Swallows seen in south-west England.