A North Yorkshire Wildlife Safari

I went on  a Yorkshire Coast Nature wildlife safari at the beginning of April and I've only just got round to adding it to my blog. My only excuse is that I have no excuse for being so tardy, but what the heck, no one died as a result :)

The day was dry, overcast and cool so perfect weather for adders, but my prime target for the day was Goshawk.

Our guides for the day were Dan and Mark and our small group was myself, the two experts and a family of 4 consisting of 2 adults and 2 teenagers. Everyone was cheerful, friendly and interested in what was going on, and no one was a pain in the arse (apart from myself probably).

We started the day by dropping down into a small valley with a river flowing through it, hoping to see Kingfisher and Dipper. We got Dipper but dipped on Kingfisher although Dan had a brief sight of one as it flew upstream away from the perch it was sitting on right by his feet! Grey Wagtail, ChiffChaff and my first Willow Warbler of the year followed shortly and a Song Thrush kept us company most of the hour and a half we were there. Several Grey Heron, Redwing, Yellowhammer, Linnet and Siskin were seen and/or heard and there was also a brief, tantalising, distant view of Goshawk but I didn't see it well enough to id it so I was still waiting for my first sighting.

Dipper

Grey Wagtail

We then moved off up to a nearby forest in the hope of seeing basking adders and further on Goshawk was a possible. We got out of the cars and I decided not to take my camera and opted for the scope instead - mistake!!!

10 minutes up the track into the forest and Dan stopped us to look into the area between the track and the trees where dead bracken and grass were giving a good habitat for a male adder to rest. We would have walked on by without Dan expecting to see one there and picking it out for us. The snake was actually flattened rather than being cylindrical as you would expect, and Dan told us this was to present a larger surface area to be able to collect what sunlight and warmth there was. This was where I wished I'd brought my camera!

Male adder - photo courtesy of Mark Pearson

Mark took several good photos and emailed me this one so cheers Mark. It's better than mine would have been.  We walked on and Dan pointed out another male adder that we'd all walked past again. It stayed there for quite a few minutes while we had great views of it until it obviously sensed us being there and moved off into the trees.

A good walk into the forest along dry tracks and paths was interspersed with stops to see and hear birds and also to see Newts in a small pond. I'm sorry to say I can't remember whether they were Smooth or Palmate :(

The sun came out just in time for our lunch stop which was taken outside a pub on picnic tables. I have to say I was a little anti-social as I had my back to the party around the table hoping to see Goshawk over the tree line. Also I was on the end of the table so I couldn't get my feet under it anyway!

We returned to the spot we started at in the valley hoping for Kingfisher again and maybe Goshawk but neither was seen. We walked along the river bank upstream this time and great views of Dipper and Grey Wagtail were enjoyed once again, along with Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

 Off we went then for another place to try for Gos and this time we were successful. Parking on the road side was a little precarious but we all had great views of a Goshawk flying along the valley below the tree line. I had my camera this time but I decided that good views through the bins was more important than a record shot as the bird was flying away from us and would probably not hang around long enough for both looking and photographing. Again, Mark came to the rescue and he took several photos, this being the pick of them -

Goshawk - photo courtesy of Mark Pearson

We decided to try a location which was good for waders and wildfowl and also Little Owl. 20 minutes later we stopped to see Little Owl which the youngsters in the party particularly enjoyed. Just 2 minutes down the track Mark saw a pheasant in the field, but your normal pheasant - oh no - this was a Reeves's Pheasant which I'd never even heard of let alone seen -

On to the lakes and although the wind had strengthened to the point where the scope wouldn't stand on its own without me holding it, we got Little Ringed Plover, Egyptian Goose, Lapwing and Oystercatcher. Although I wasn't keeping count it transpired that I saw 53 bird species for the day. Mark and Dan saw more than that but they are expert birders and I was more than happy with seeing Goshawk for the first time.

We returned to our starting point at Seamer railway station after a superb, enthralling, informative and enjoyable day with good company and decent weather. If anyone is thinking about a day out with Yorkshire Coast Nature then I can fully and whole-heartedly recommend them. Money well spent and I'll be going on another adventure with them as soon as I can.

After some reflection, although I wanted to see Goshawk more than anything, seeing adders so well and for so long was definitely the highlight of the day for me. Thanks Dan and Mark.