Monday, 28 October 2013

Yorkshire Visitors

Last week had me visiting Ilkley.
Not having been onto the famous moor before, I stumbled upon the road sign pointing the way upward so took the car about two thirds of the way up and upon parking noticed a large flock of birds directly ahead of me.
They were a mixed flock of Fieldfare and Redwing.




The steep sides of the moor were dotted with Rowan and Holly


 which provided the attraction, although it was apparent that most of the Rowan were already stripped bare of berries. The birds were constantly on the move between a stand of nearby conifers  and the target bushes



but I reckon 300-400 birds were in the flock. A lot of the birds were down on the ground under the bracken where I guess they were feeding on bilberry, although it seemed a bit late in the year for that.

Earlier Red Kite, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk were seen in the air

It was only afterwards that I enquired about the famous line

On Ilkla Mooar baht 'at   .....................    and what it meant

I have read that it is ........       On Ilkley Moor without a hat   

which turned out to be appropriate





2 comments:

kirstallcreatures said...

Great post, the redwing/fieldfare pics look fantastic. L

Killy Birder said...

I think Fieldfares are stunning birds when seen in good lighting conditions. I especially like the first image and the atmospheric colouring. Brian.