Category: Uncategorized

Where Kite and Buzzard Fly

Inspired by walks on the Long Mynd in Shropshire…

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Here the kite

And the buzzard cry

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And woodpeckers swoop

And dragonflies roam

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And all is green

Except for the sky

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So infinitely blue

And there you

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Feel at home

Where birds and insects roam

And there doesn’t need to be a why.

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Wild

I was recently walking on The Stiperstones, early in the morning. It was frosty, and the sun was just rising, and the wildness of this beautiful ridge in Shropshire came beautifully into view as two crows came to settle on the crags that form the hill’s jagged silhouette…

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Wild

Amongst the Stretton hills

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Rolling

With buzzards and kites

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Wild

The fields that patch the plain

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With lambs that skip

And golden grain

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Wild

The rocks of Stiperstones

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Older than time

And dead mens’ bones

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Wild

The brooks

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Where dippers play

Kingfishers dart

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Wild the call

Of nature’s art

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Wild the call

To human hearts.

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Lapwings at Melverley

I saw my first lapwing as a boy on a farm belonging to a family friend. It was a long way off, and all I remember is the tuft on its head. I remember thinking how magical it looked – especially to someone brought up in suburban London! It made my heart beat a little faster – the love affair had begun!

Decades later and I find myself in the Midlands, where, thankfully, lapwing are still not that uncommon, though nationally they are on the red list as of great concern.

In Shropshire, they can fairly regularly be seen at Venus Pool.

One spring I was treated to the wonderful spectacle of lapwings acrobatic, crazy flight and song, just over the Shropshire border in Staffordshire, as they chased, and were chased by, corvids, gulls and each other!

Their name lapwing may derive from the Anglo Saxon word for “leap” and “reel”, and as they displayed, I could see why!

Today it was the winter solstice of 2023, and I was treated to wonderful view of a lapwing flock wheeling around in the skies around Melverley:

Goldcrests on Haughmond Hill

They’re our smallest bird (along with their rarer relatives, firecrests), and many people probably live life without ever having seen one. But for me it is a pure delight whenever I hear their high-pitched, repetitive “cheep-cheep-cheep” and get to spot them in the undergrowth.

Not that they are easy to see! They are constantly on the move, and their olive-brown colouring makes them blend in so well with foliage, until you glimpse that beautiful yellow or yellow-orange stripe on their tiny heads.

This was actually a flock of four – I have only seen solitary goldcrests before – and they were incredibly undisturbed by my presence as they fidgeted and flicked around in the branches overhead as I descended from the eastern viewpoint at Haughmond Hill.

Last year, a brave little goldcrest made repeat visits to our garden (“Grateful for a Little Thing“), presumably collecting nesting materials…

But it was even more exciting to see this exquisite little flock of four dancing in the trees of Haughmond Hill.

Peregrine!

“That cloud biting anchor shape, that crossbow flying through the air” is how J.A.Baker describes peregrine falcons in his book Peregrine. Today was only the second time I have seen a peregrine falcon in Shropshire, and this was far more exciting than its being Halloween today! The photographic quality is not great, but it was circling very high up, and the image below is of course greatly zoomed in order to show the identifying facial marks.

Nationally, peregrines are doing well in the UK, but I had to have my sighting confirmed by others more expert. I now know that the “parallel lines” of the wings (very obvious in the image above) are a good clue, as is the facial “moustache” (the stock image below shows this beautifully):

And the yellow legs were also a clue (just about visible in another cropped image below):

Apparently the “falcon” part of its name derives from a Latin word “falx” meaning “sickle”, the shape of many falcons, even though peregrines have straighter wings, as already explained.

How do you know if you’ve seen one? Both times I have seen peregrines in Shropshire they have been circling very high up, but they are clearly bulkier and stockier than sparrowhawks who often behave in a similar way, and who also have longer tails. The peregrine’s tail is pretty short as the third photo shows well. And they are much more compact than the commoner buzzards, who are usually very obviously big birds with very long wings; the peregrine’s wings, like its tail, are also shortish and compact.

Peregrines are a protected species, so unfortunately I cannot reveal either of the two locations where I have seen them.

But if you ever see something circling smoothly in huge circles overhead effortlessly, and its not a big long-winged buzzard, and its not a small long-tailed sparrowhawk, then you never know, it might be a peregrine! With a decent zoom and cropping you might then be able to just get enough definition to see some of the other identifying marks to confirm your hunch.

As a much more experienced birdwatcher said to me – “any peregrine day is a good day”!

Wonderful Wroxeter

From autumn onwards, Wroxeter is a great place to see winter thrushes – both fieldfares (left) and redwings (right).

It’s also a great place for atmospheric sunrises:

The church was built using some of the stone from the Roman city, and it also has some entertaining gargoyles jutting out into the Shropshire sky…

On my most recent, visit in October 2023, I was surprised by this beautiful red admiral basking in the autumn sunshine…

And I surprised a buzzard who was minding his own business until he saw me!

There are always sheep around Wroxeter. This pair couldn’t be bothered to be surprised and just lazily slept on!