End of an Era...

This may be my last post for a week or so. Jenny and I are in the processes of our more-or-less annual house move - this time it will be for the long term as we've brought a house down in North Duffield so my local patch will be changing from the Clifton Backies to the Lower Derwent Valley (LDV) and Skipwith Common. Can't wait - awesome patch birding here I come!! I'm looking forward to meeting up with all of the locals. Come and say hello if you see me!

It's with mixed feelings that I say goodbye to the Clifton Backies - it has huge potential for an urban site and has provided some good birding highlights - most notably Black-winged Stilt earlier this year, the first record of this rare species in the York recording area since 1992! Other highlights have included Waxwing, Merlin, Peregrine, Marsh Harrier, Raven, Tree Pipit, Snipe, Woodcock, Whooper Swan and top-secret Species X. Other birds have included an interesting mix of farmland, garden and woodland type birds of both resident, summer migrant and winter migrant origins. The last 16 months has resulted in around 70 odd bird species with a good number of moths and butterflies also recorded.

With the good has been the bad. As Cher once sang: Gypsy's, Tramps and Thieves.... this has been the downside, the abuse from people who don't have the ability to read or write, or think has generally made birding the local patch less fun than it could/should have been. But nevermind, onwards and upwards - Bring on the LDV...