Nature Notes

Finally, on the afternoon of the 12 March, the wind moved into the west to herald the end of winter.

Walking up Fence Dyke Lane recently, I noticed a huge flock of fieldfares feeding when suddenly a large female sparrow hawk made an attack and killed one.

At the end of the last Ice Age much of England was covered by an ice sheet between two and three kilometres thick.

The early winter weather has been dominated by gales bringing warm weather from the west due to a strong El Nino.

by Andy Johnston The autumn weather can be best summed up as wet, windy and warm, which has enabled many flowers to be still in bloom due to a lack of hard frosts. The first week in October saw the last of our local swallows, house martins and hobby leave for Africa and the arrival…

Recent storms brought us the largest fall of North American migrants for 30 years.

In early September, I woke to find my car covered in Sahara dust, thanks to a huge plume of hot air from the south. Sahara dust is responsible for delivering an estimated 22 kilotons of phosphorous and other nutrients to the rain forests of South America. Local farmers will be only too happy to receive…

It has been a strange summer weather wise; June was very dry and sunny but with cold evenings.

We have at least one pair of sparrow hawks which operate in the village. Those of you with bird feeders will be aware of the sudden attacks on garden birds, or more usually the tell-tale sign of a patch of feathers on the lawn.

Recently I walked up Meeth Gill just west of Reeth to the Old Gang Smelt Mills to see how many species of upland birds I could find, especially summer migrants.