Durr Hill near Burley

The weather was cloudy and windy. Highlights were Swallow, Crossbill, Woodlark and Dartford Warbler.

From the car park we passed a few singing Greenfinch, one of which did its display flight over us. A few seconds later 2 Swallows whizzed past – the first of the year! We walked out onto the heath. Past the pond there was a large group of Crossbills in one of the birch trees. There were about 30 and we got good views of them. There was also a Great-spotted Woodpecker on the same tree. The Crossbills flew around quite a lot and we saw them, on and off, for the rest of the walk. Further on and we saw 2 birds in amongst the heather. We waited and one started to sing a little – Woodlark! But they didn’t show themselves until they both flew off! We walked further out onto the heath passing singing Skylarks and a couple of Stonechat, to a small patch of woodland with a few Chaffinch and Goldfinch in it. We watched another couple of Stonechat and a few Stock Dove flew past. Heading back we saw a couple of Carrion Crow and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Black-headed Gull fly past. We stopped to look at the Wall-rue growing on the walls of the railway bridge and saw a couple of Long-tailed Tit here. Walking further on we came across another pair of Woodlark feeding on the ground and they proved quite difficult to see. There were also a few Linnet and a Goldfinch feeding on the ground here. Walking back past an area of Gorse we saw a few more Stonechat and a Dartford Warbler. A Kestrel hunted overhead for a while and we saw another Woodlark flying off. Altogether a successful walk with no rain!
Simon Curson