A Tale of Two Identities

Summer is here and I have a slightly pinkened forehead to prove it. Must remember to buy some new sunblock!

Just a side note today... proper write up later. The first migrants are back with at least 13 Chiffchaff heard over the weekend and 3 Sand Martins around Gransmoor Quarry.

They weren't the best birds of the weekend, though. That accolade falls to the Red Kite drifting north west and to the fine female Merlin near Harpham. In both cases I spectacularly misidentified them before realising what I was looking at - it struck me as rather amusing so here goes...

Tale 1 - Red Kite

A Common Buzzard appeared, circling in the warm afternoon air on Sunday. I'm so used to seeing them now that a second glance is rarely needed though they're such a joy to watch I often track them for a while. In this case I was stood in the middle of the road and a car came along so had to move sharpish. The car pulled to a halt, it was someone we knew. In the middle of last week, the driver told us, a bird much like a kite had drifted overhead while he was working outside. Very possible, said we, pondering the description of a large bird of prey with a forked red tail.

Anyway, when we'd said goodbye I returned to looking at the buzzard only to find it had morphed into a Red Kite. Eh? Unpossible. So the lesson is - beware buzzards becoming common, for you may be fooled into not looking at them. In my defence, it was quite distant at first and the light was not... oh who am I kidding :)

Tale 2 - Merlin

This one is even worse, though again I got there in the end. We were walking back from Harpham and I was looking at a Kestrel perched on a fence post. The light was perfect and the rufous tones were positively on fire. Beautiful. Further in the distance was a Stock Dove perched in a lone tree. Having helpfully pointed it out it suddenly occured to me this was not a dove at all. It looked more like a falcon the way it was perched. Certainly not a Kestrel as it was too dark. Not a Peregrine, too small. Sparrowhawk? Definitely not.

I was stumped for a moment, a moment during which it suddently took flight. Merlin! Doh! I'm not even sure what the lesson is here other than look at everything again. And then once more.

Finally, something rather more serious. The water levels are so low it's making me fearful for the summer. I've never seen the beck so low at this time of year, but I realise I've been saying that all winter. The photo below is at Lowthorpe bridge - surely it can't dry out?

Edit: this story on the BBC (28/03/12) notes "rainfall figures suggested the Hull and Don catchment areas had had the second driest year on record since 1910"