Never tried this blog business before but here goes. I'm one of those lucky people who's got a job that involves me on a day to day basis with wildlife, and I guess more importantly with telling other people about it.



This is my patch - Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales and I thought I'd try and give you some idea of the changing wildlife I come across in the area. Last year was a bit of a milestone in terms of our birds. Together with a local birdwatcher I put together an annual "Wildlife and Weather" report for the area. Anyway last year we got to our two hundredth species of bird for the site - a Little Egret that stayed for a few days in October. One of the great things about being at a place like this on a daily basis is the not knowing of what's going to be there next. That's not to say that the "usuals" aren't pretty good too.

Walking the dog this morning I had two weasels on the boardwalk on the reserve area, a dog fox heading resolutely towards the rabbit warren, countless coot, wigeon and teal on the Tarn itself, a few goldeneye and the usual nuthatches, tree creepers and tits in the woods. A green woodpecker has been with us since July and it now busy calling and flying all over the palce looking for a mate - if it doesn't I think it will head off down into the valley - they've never bred here. Oh, and finally the snowdrops have just come out this week. A sure sign of spring but February is often our worst month of the year and I wouldn't be suprised to see some snow before the winter really ends.

Hopefully I'll try and keep you updated on a fairly regular basis.

Spring ?? Posted 24-03-2008 at 10:31 AM by RobSutton Been without a reliable internet connection for a while now so haven't been able to write anything for the blog but it seems to be working this morning. Spring comes late up here in the Dales, our first lambs have only just arrived (March 21st), the Snowdrops have just about finished (March 24th) and we have our first Primrose (March 16th) and Daffodil (March 19th) out. It's probably three weeks later than down in the valley. Still waiting for our first Wheatear and Ring Ouzel - as soon as the... Continue reading... RobSutton Commander of the Wild Empire

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Snow Posted 03-02-2008 at 12:43 PM by RobSutton It's been an odd week up here at Malham Tarn. It started with some bright days when you could almost have been fooled that spring was just round the corner. Mistle Thrushes have been singing since just before Christmas but this week they were joined by the first Song Thrush. Now for us these are strictly summer visitors - being so high up (approx 380m above sea level) a lot of species that most people would consider resident (eg meadow pipits, pied wagtails, song thrushes) leave the hills to... Continue reading... RobSutton Commander of the Wild Empire

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27th January - Woodcock Posted 27-01-2008 at 11:51 AM by RobSutton A quick stroll on the reserve today and there's still a number of woodcock around. Hard to judge how many but as they don't flush until you're right on top of them and I flushed two in about half an hour then there could be dozens in the area. Sadly they no longer breed with us, the odd croak like calls of "rodding" woodcock is something I really miss from the summer months. Who knows maybe a few may stay on and breed this year? RobSutton Commander of the Wild Empire

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