cliftonbirding: Moorland Magic and a female Phal

I was out last Saturday afternoon and decided on a jaunt around Bransdale, it was nice and sunny but a little breezy on the tops, I checked out the area we had Redstarts last year to find at least two pairs present, further on at the first Ring Ouzel site I had a couple of Green Hairstreaks on the Bilberry plus plenty of Meadow Pipits, Red Grouse etc, a protective Lapwing nearly took my head off but no sign of any Ring Ouzels or Whinchats, I took the road that links across cutting out the head of the Dale, a pleasant little drive, I stopped where a little bridge went over a stream and had a Spotted Flycatcher there, heading back down the other side of the valley I stopped by the bridge and picked up my first Whinchats for the year also a male Ring Ouzel in the area, haven't managed to see one at this site the last couple of years, another one was feeding by the road 500 yards or so further on and another pair of Whinchats were nearby.

took exception to my presence

her chicks hid in nearby vegetation, she relied on camouflage
doesn't really work on grass though

Spotted Flycatcher silhouette

Red Grouse from a different angle

Whinchat had been singing from this tree, staked it out for a bit
but it didn't come back, these two came along though

kept its distance as usual

unlike this poser

Common Heath Moth

Sunday I was out with Mark and Mike Williams and it was up on to the Moors again but more with Butterflies in mind, called in at the Gilling end of Yearsley Moor Woods on the way to check for Redstarts and Wood Warblers, nice walk but nothing out of the ordinary was seen, we carried on to our first main site of the day, Hawnby Hill north of Helmsley for Duke of Burgundy Butterfly, as I knew where I was going this time we were soon in the area and it wasn’t long before we were enjoying good views of them, by the end of the session we reckoned there were probably up to 50 around also a couple of Dingy Skippers and all the while we were serenaded by Tree Pipits, a Garden Warbler sat out in the open singing its head off, typically as I didn’t have my big lens on the camera. After lunch we headed across to our next Butterfly site where I first saw Pearl Bordered Fritillaries a couple of years back, once again they were out in good numbers but in the warmth of the afternoon they were very active and it was hard work trying to get a picture. Late afternoon we thought we'd do a bit of birding and when we found out the female Red Necked Phalarope that had been found at North Cave Wetlands in the morning was still present we decided to go for that, it was on the Reedbed Lake and showing well, always nice to see a spring bird, just always a little distant for the camera, nevertheless a good end to a superb day.