5:30 - 7:30am. Weather: misty dawn, heavy sleet & snow showers.
One of the main reasons to visit Langdon Beck is that it's one of the best places in the country to view lekking black grouse, so Rob & I got up & out before dawn in the hope of experiencing one of the wonderful sights (& sounds) of spring. The weather was disappointing but the birds were not.
Oystercatcher - a couple standing on the gravel in a layby of the main road.
Snipe - what sounded like several birds roding constantly in the pre-dawn gloom; quite an unearthly sound but though very close we didn't see any birds doing it.
Curlew, Lapwing.
Black Grouse - just like the snipe the sound of the lek was heard long before we were finally able to pick out some birds from the expanse of the moor visible from the road. There were at least half a dozen males involved in the lek & though the morning was gloomy we had some good prolonged sightings & some fantastic leeking behaviour.
Meadow Pipit, Skylark - also heard.
Holwick Scar
1pm. Weather: heavy rain shower.
Wheatear - one male, three females; first of the spring & a splash vibrancy in the gloom.
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