That is a turtle dove, beautiful is it not? Very rare in England, but a PDF from the local GP on a recent talk by an environmentalist Richard Baines, mentioned that we had turtle doves in Ryedale, to be found in Danby and Cropton Forest not far from where we live.
"Turtle Doves are our smallest European dove. Each year these amazing and beautiful birds fly 11,200 km from Africa to nest in the UK arriving approx. mid April. They’ve suffered a dramatic decline in numbers in England and are now rare but in Ryedale and around Ryedale is one of the few areas where they are known to exist. Not before time, organised efforts are now underway to help them survive - through this project."
And yes volunteers have to get up with the morning dawn chorus to record them, apparently they make a soft purring noise.
On F/B this morning an acquaintance had travelled from Oxfordshire to my most favourite place on Earth - Carn Llidl on St.David's Head to see an immigrant that had just dropped in a Snowy Owl from the North.
I am not a bird twitcher, but it must have been a magnificent sight. We went for an early morning walk, that is Lucy and I, and watched our less spectacular barn owl cruise the the field intent on mice or voles. Wandering back along the road, waving to friend who was still in a dressing gown, I stopped and admired the sheer number of daffodils in the graveyard, will take a photo one day but the following photo of a feather in the garden is absolutely symmetrically beautiful. Not sure what bird it belongs to, maybe the barn owl.
"Turtle Doves are our smallest European dove. Each year these amazing and beautiful birds fly 11,200 km from Africa to nest in the UK arriving approx. mid April. They’ve suffered a dramatic decline in numbers in England and are now rare but in Ryedale and around Ryedale is one of the few areas where they are known to exist. Not before time, organised efforts are now underway to help them survive - through this project."
And yes volunteers have to get up with the morning dawn chorus to record them, apparently they make a soft purring noise.
On F/B this morning an acquaintance had travelled from Oxfordshire to my most favourite place on Earth - Carn Llidl on St.David's Head to see an immigrant that had just dropped in a Snowy Owl from the North.
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| Snowy female owl |
That snowy owl is absolutely stunning Thelma.
ReplyDeleteApparently the female owl is more spectacular than the male, she is a beauty slightly off track.
DeleteIt may be a guinea fowl feather. I only know this because somebody kindly told me in the comments on my blog!
ReplyDeleteArilx
Could well be Aril, Nelson down the road in his smallholding has guinea fowl, strange birds but thank you.
DeleteWe get a snowy down here in the late winter, but I have never seen them. That dove is so lovely and I hope they protect its habitat for hundreds of years to come.
ReplyDeleteWell I expect it be another fight, somehow all the quiet places are being disturbed by humans who see the whole world as their playground. In this instance forests are seen as places to put wooden holiday homes, and we don't exactly have large forests, except there is to be the great Northern forest planted in the future.
ReplyDelete